


From Order to Disarray.

by heyitsnxel



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Anxiety, Fluff and Angst, M/M, MINOR DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-04-29 10:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14470884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyitsnxel/pseuds/heyitsnxel
Summary: If Dan was going to compare Phil to anything, it would be a tornado. A tornado that came spinning through his life and throwing it into utter chaos.





	1. Chapter 1

It was simple.

Dan liked order.

He liked the jars on the shelves in his shop to be perfectly aligned in alphabetical order. The spellbooks stacked atop the counter were arranged in size order, biggest on the bottom to the smallest on the top. The flowers placed in the vase on his work table had to be changed once the petals started to wilt because if they weren’t, the petals would fall off and make a mess. The clothes in his closet were organized by color, the sheets on his bed pulled perfectly flat, the sign on the door of his herb shop was placed exactly in the middle of the door.

It was just the way things were. It made his job of finding ingredients for spells easy. It made closing his shop at the end of the day easy. It just made everything _easier._

 

* * *

 

 

Dan knew exactly when this mentality had started. When he was much younger, before he delved into the world of magic, order was the last thing on his mind. His room looked like a tornado had run through it more than once. He’d carelessly track mud across the hardwood floors of his family home. And much to his dismay now, he’d strown books carelessly on the floor only for them to get trampled as he stomped around his room.

Even when his mother introduced him to the possibilities of magic, he’d been careless. Day after day, he’d spent by his mother’s side in the garden. They collected herbs and she meticulously labeled the jars they were in.

 

‘It’s important to be organized, Daniel.’ She had said. ‘You never know when you’ll have to be ready in a hurry.’

 

(He wished he’d headed those words.)

 

By the time he was eighteen, Dan was talented in the art of potions. It wasn’t what he preferred. He had wanted something ‘cool’, like elemental magic. But his hands couldn’t form the signs necessary to perform it. He had sulked about for a while in his state of teen angst, but eventually came to love potion making and practiced it daily.

The state of his potion room was no better than his bedroom. It was a mess. Unlabeled jars, various plants and herbs everywhere, books with dogeared pages on potions he was attempting to make tossed to the side. He had never cared, until he had to.

One evening, the door of his bedroom flung open, hitting the wall with a loud bang that caused Dan to jolt up from the bed. His little sister stood in the doorway, tears streaming down her face.

 

“Dan.” She whimpered, grabbing his hand and futily attempting to pull him off the bed and out the door. “Something’s wrong with mommy.”

 

That alone was enough to send him bolting down the stairs, leaving his sister teary eyed in his wake. He skidded to a stop when he saw his mother leaning against the wall just inside of their front door.

“Daniel… You need to take Julie and go.” She barely choked the words out.

Dan only stared at her in shock. Her usually tan skin had gone pale, her eyes bloodshot. It was like she aged 40 years in one day. He didn’t even hear the patter of his sister's steps, entering the room.

 

“W-Why?”

 

“I told you,” She coughed, “The world wouldn’t always be so accepting of magic…”

 

It was only then that Dan noticed the blood pooling from underneath her shirt. The pink fabric of the blouse was ripped, a swirl of blood rapidly growing underneath.

 

“I’ll heal you!” He’d shouted. Without giving her time to deny him, he bolted up the stairs. Wounds like that were fairly easy to fix.

 

With the right mix of herbs and flowers, the potion should have been ready almost immediately. It should have been fine, he should have been able to saved her. If things hadn’t been such a mess…

By the time he’d managed to scrounge up the ingredients, his mother’s body lay limp one the floor and his sister was curled up in the corner, sobs racking her tiny body.

 

The memory wasn’t something Dan liked to dwell on. As he’d grabbed Julie in his arms, heeding his mother’s warnings and running away, he’d sworn to never let something like that happen again. And thus, the obsession with order was born.

 

* * *

 

 

The world had become slightly more accepting of magic since then. It wasn’t perfect, but people weren’t actively hunting witches down. The difference a few years could make…

 

Dan flipped the sign on his door to closed and sighed. He barely had time to let the sigh pass his lips before a blur of black fur burst through the glass of his door, sending shards scattering across the floor before it crashed into one of his shelves. It was like reality had turned to slow motion, Dan could see the jars falling and clattering to the floor. The herbs inside mixing with one another across the wood.

He froze, panic bubbling in his chest. It was only then his eyes flickering towards the cause of the disturbance. It was a cat. It’s fur was the color of an oil spill and it was perched atop one of Dan’s shelves. The two made eye contact for a moment before the cat jumped down and waltzed straight through the herbs on the floor, leaving small footprints behind him.

Dan wanted to be angry. He really did. But panic was winning this emotional battle and he found himself frantically looking for a broom so he could sweep the mess up and push the cat out of his shop. He needed to fix everything and he needed to do it now. His hands had just wrapped around the handle when the bell on his door chimed and a male voice rang out,

 

“Susan! Bad cat!”


	2. Chapter 2

The cat perked at the sound of the sudden voice at the door. It’s little ears twitched before it bounded over to the man standing inside Dan’s door and began to weave it’s way around his legs eventually deciding to curl up atop the man’s red converse. Dan eyed the pair warily. The cat and it’s owner both shared the same black hair, though the man’s was styled into a messy quiff as if he’d ran across the street ( _maybe he had_ ). They were both relatively lanky and seemed a bit too big for their bodies. And, Dan noticed finally, they both had a poor sense of motion control.

 

The man was stammering out a string of apologies, laced with “she’s not usually like this” and “I can pay for the damages”, his arms flailing wildly as he spoke like that would help get his point across. Dan knew it was going to happen before it did. The man’s hand smacked into the side of another shelf, this one only holding books, and sent a few toppling to the floor.

The man froze. His gaze shifted to Dan and stayed there before he hung his head slightly. The sight reminded Dan of a child when they were about to get scolded. It would have been endearing if there wasn’t the constant sense of anxiety over the state of his shop present in his mind.

 

“It’s fine.”

 

Breaking the awkward silence, Dan sighed. His boots crunched against the glass on the floor as he walked to pick up the books. The cat, or Susan rather, purred at the man’s feet. It’s eyes opened slightly to watch as Dan made his way across the room and Dan could have sworn it looked amused. He refrained from rolling his eyes.

 

“Are you sure? I, uh… She’s really not usually like that. I don’t know what possessed her to just… Yeah.”

 

The dark haired man motioned around the room again, this time more carefully, as if Dan needed to be reminded what he was talking about. Dan shrugged.

 

“It’s fine.” He said again. It wasn’t.

 

“I’ll pay for the door and stuff. Seriously, I’d feel terrible if I didn’t. Do you have anything to cover it up with overnight?”

 

He hadn’t even thought about that, honestly. Surely there was witch somewhere in the city who could fix this with a wave of their hand, but being the loner he was, Dan didn’t know of one. He preferred to handle his problems himself, anyway. He apparently pondered his answer too long.

 

“I have some wood across the street. It won’t look great, but we can just board it up for now. Okay?”

 

There was no time for Dan to agree or disagree. He watched the man bolt across the street and enter one of the previously empty shops that lined the sidewalk.

‘So that’s where he came from,’ Dan thought to himself. He knew he had never seen the man around and with the amount of people watching he did via his shop window, he would have seen him. Susan stirred when the man left the shop, stretching her legs while somehow avoiding the glass on the floor. She looked upwards at Dan and the two held an awkwardly long amount of eye contact for a cat and human before Dan sighed and grabbed the broom.

 

* * *

 

 

By the time the man returned, lugging a bright green tool bag and a few pieces of plywood, Dan had already managed to remove the glass and herbs from the floor. Susan had taken to jumping from shelf to shelf, following Dan as he paced around the shop.

“Susan!” A groan from the doorway, snapped Dan back to attention. The cat was getting scolded like a parent would a child, finger wagging and vague threats of ‘no more treats’ included. Dan couldn’t help but chuckle.

 

“I think she’s just acting out because of the move,” The man sighed, fingers running through his hair turning his quiff into what Dan referred to as a fwiff. It was oddly fitting.

“She’s usually pretty chill. Maybe she got into the coffee. Can cats get a caffeine rush? I have no idea… Oh! My name’s Phil, by the way. In case you wanted to know who was really responsible for the mess.”

 

Dan watched Phil ramble, his hands were starting to gesticulate wildly again and Dan feared for the shelf nearest to him. Did this man ever stay still? It was like he was on a constant caffeine rush himself. It was a bit overwhelming if Dan were being honest. But, Phil seemed polite enough. He offered his new neighbor a small smile before introducing himself.

 

“Dan.”

* * *

 

It was surprising to Dan how quickly he and Phil fell into casual conversation in between the hammering of the door and Phil’s constant mothering of the cat. It was a nice feeling, Dan thought, to have a genuine conversation with someone. He hadn’t really had one of those in years that didn’t revolve around herbs and his prices.

Throughout the conversation, Phil had revealed far more about himself than Dan. He was opening a coffee shop or a bookstore or both (he hadn’t decided yet) and just like Dan, he lived directly above the shop. When Dan mentioned this, Phil grinned.

 

“That means our bedroom windows are right across from each other! We should make a secret code to communicate.”

 

Dan had laughed, reminding Phil that cell phones did exist.

 

“Are you trying to give me your number?” The smirk on Phil’s face grew seeing how flustered Dan had gotten.

 

“I.. Uh, sure?”

 

Phil had left an hour or so later. The door was long done, but he kept finding a reason to linger around Dan’s shop, reasons to continue the conversation, to hesitate every time he moved for the door. Eventually, Phil waved goodnight and walked back across the street with Susan on his heels. Dan watched him go. Admittedly, he was checking him out. Phil was undoubtedly attractive and Dan found he couldn’t tear his gaze away. Phil glanced back towards the shop once he reached his door and Dan darted away from the window with a quiet squeak he was glad no one else was around to hear. Last thing he needed was for Phil to think he was a creep.

 

* * *

 

 

It was barely 45 minutes later when Dan’s phone chimed, vibrating loudly against the top of his nightstand.

**_Phil Across the Street: Image attached (1)_ **

It was a picture of his window, clearly taken from Phil’s room.

**_Dan: Stalker._ **

****

**_Phil Across the Street: No! I just happened to look out the window and see your light still on and remembered we never made our secret code!_ **

****

****_Dan: You were serious about that?_  
  


**_Phil Across the Street: I don’t joke about secret codes._ **

****

**_Dan: Right, silly me. How could I be so foolish?_ **

****

**_Phil Across the Street: :P Go to bed, it’s late. We can work out our secret code later._ **

****

**_Dan: K, mum. You’re the one who texted me first._ **

 

Phil wished him a goodnight, along with a picture of Susan. Dan rolled his eyes at the cat. He may like Phil but he was still unsure about his feline companion. He replied with a simple “gn” and slid down under his covers. There was no harm in talking to Phil, he tried to remind himself. Phil was just a hot guy who lived across the street, was opening a coffee shop (maybe), had an annoying cat, a beautiful laugh, and an unknown opinions about witches. It was the last thing that always got to Dan. Surely, Phil knew. Dan didn’t make it obvious, but he also didn’t try to hide it and Phil hadn’t commented on anything. If he was against it, he would have said something, right?

But was it apparent? Dan's mind went wild, pondering over all the possibilities that could have left Phil oblivious to Dan's magical nature.

_'It could just look like a garden shop.'_

_'People don't just use herbs for cooking.'_

_'All the books that were out were about raising plants! That doesn't give any idea I do magic!'_

_'Maybe he's just dense.'_

 

Dan groaned, tugging his pillow over his face. The sheets were tangled around his legs from all his tossing and turning. It was best to let Phil bring it up on his own. Dan knew his feelings were influencing this decision. He liked Phil, even after only one meeting. He didn't want to ruin any chance of friendship (or more) by bringing up something Phil might never know. 

 

_'In time all secrets are revealed.'_

The words flitted into Dan's mind as he was drifting off, sending a rigid wave of anxiety throughout him. Despite the lingering giddiness (courtesy of Phil), it was inevitably going to be a restless night.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Dan's relationship with Phil only grew over the next weeks, along with the annoying combo of giddiness and restlessness that seemed to accompany Phil's existence.

Phil always seemed to be around. Whether he was meandering around Dan’s shop for no reason other than to “look” (which Dan quickly learned meant Phil was avoiding doing some kind of work) or whether he was dragging Dan across the street to see how his coffee shop + bookstore was coming along ( _it wasn't_ considering how much time he spent at Dan's). He had already become a regular presence in Dan’s usually lone lifestyle. 

It was doing nothing to stop the blooming feelings in Dan’s chest. Every time the bell on his door chimed, Dan’s heart skipped and he found himself subconsciously hoping it was Phil. Nine times out of ten, it was. Always with Susan directly behind him.

Dan was fairly sure Phil knew he dabbled in magic at this point. There was too much evidence of it laying out in the open and with the amount of time Phil had spent ‘looking around’, he’d have to be stupid not to know. Luckily, he hadn’t said anything which Dan took as a sign he was okay with it. He found himself growing more relaxed around Phil, occasionally dropping random facts about himself into their conversations (something that he avoided with nearly anyone else who attempted to talk to him). Phil always seemed overjoyed, his face splitting into a grin with every little detail Dan let slip about himself. It was overwhelming, but the attention was nice.

 

* * *

 

 

But, even with all the good, Dan couldn’t deny the bad. Phil is what Dan liked to call a ‘disaster person.’ He was clumsy, he was the least organized person Dan had ever met, his genuinely carefree attitude caused Dan a great deal of stress, and from what Phil had told him about his past, bad things just seemed to happen to him.

 

"... It just fell?" 

 

Dan was hanging a picture in Phil's shop when he had mentioned a huge painting fell on him at an art exhibit once.

 

"Yes! I was just minding my own business, then this creepy guy walked by and said some weird thing about 'gingers always having bad luck', which just isn't true, and then the painting fell on me and I got in trouble for messing it up!"

 

Dan stifled his laugh into his sleeve causing the stool to wobble underneath him, freaking both him and Phil out for a split second.

 

"Don't laugh! It was a traumatizing moment for me!"

 

Dan did laugh for quite some time much to Phil's displeasure. Susan was sitting on the counter watching the two of them with little interest. 

 

"You're such a strange person. What do gingers even have to do with you?"

 

Dan had taken to sitting on the stool now, twisting the hammer between his hands. When he glanced up to Phil, he was surprised at the pink tinting across his face.

 

"Natural ginger." He pointed to his hair, not bothering to hide his cringe. "I dye it. Now you know my darkest secret, Howell. You have to tell me one now."

 

Dan wanted to comment on the fact he loved gingers, but he tensed at the mention of a secret. Phil sounded like he knew Dan had a secret, which admittedly, he probably did know. But still...

 

A nervous laugh left his lips as he tried to play it off.

 

"Your secrets safe with me, Lester."

 

Phil looked like he wanted to press the conversation, but he didn't. For that, Dan was thankful.

 

* * *

 

A few days passed before Dan found himself back across the street, broom in hand and a glare directed at Phil.

 

“Dan, come on.” Phil whined, laying his head back against the couch. They were in Phil’s shop now and Dan was getting close to losing it. “It’s not that bad.”

 

Phil’s words had fallen on deaf ears. Dan was still scurrying around the room, stacking up the books that were haphazardly tossed onto the floor, putting the mess of tools and paint samples back into Phil’s toolbag, moving boxes out of the middle of the floor. He’d even gone as far as to sprint across the street and bring back cleaning supplies which he placed at Phil’s feet.

 

“Watching you is stressing me out.” Phil commented, his gaze falling to the box of cleaning supplies sitting in front of him. He was amused, to Dan’s annoyance, and didn’t even try to hide it.

 

“Then help me! How are you- I don’t even get how you can just sit there when this is a disaster. I was **_literally_** here three days ago and cleaned the whole room and now look at it!”

 

"You're such a mum." Phil laughed, tongue between his teeth, in a way that made Dan’s heart nearly burst through his chest thanks to his crush. He quickly turned away with a huff.

“Awe, come on. Don’t pout. You know magic. Why don’t you just do some spell or something?”

 

It was unnatural how quickly Dan froze on the spot, a heavy silence falling over the room. This was the first time his magic had been blatantly addressed between the two of them and while he wasn’t ashamed of it, he wasn’t sure how to proceed.

 

“I, uh, I don’t really do that kind of magic.” Dan somehow stammered out, his voice dropping a few octaves. He was nervously drumming his fingers across the counter, carefully looking anywhere other than Phil.

 

The silence was broken by Phil’s footsteps before his hands were on Dan's shoulders, turning him so there was no other choice but to make eye contact.

 

“You know I don’t care, right? I think it’s pretty cool.”

 

He was positively beaming, his blue eyes seeming to light up at the mere thought of it. Dan relaxed instantly. There was something genuine about Phil that made it hard not to.

 

“You think it’s cool?”

 

Phil chuckled, sliding his hand from Dan’s shoulder down his arm.

 

“The coolest. My parents were strict about it, so I never knew anyone who did magic. Or if I did, I didn’t get a chance to get close to them.”

 

His hand fell from Dan’s arm, the look of happiness faded from his face into what Dan recognized as Phil getting lost in his thoughts.

 

“Well, now you have me.”

 

He turned away before Phil could see the blush spreading across his face. Even with his back turned, Dan could hear the happiness seeping back into Phil’s voice.

 

“Yeah, now I have you.”


	4. Chapter 4

After the short conversation about magic, the dynamic shifted between Dan and Phil.

 

The first time Dan noticed it was a few days later around 5 am. An ungodly hour, if he were being honest, but it was hard to ignore the never ending knocking on the glass door of his shop. Somehow Dan managed to stumble out of his bed and down the stairs, pajamas crumpled from tossing and turning and his curls falling into a mess of bedhead across his forehead. One look out the windows of his shop made it obvious the sun was just beginning to rise, the sky starting to turn a pretty shade of pink. He should have appreciated it, but it was 5 in the morning… So he didn’t.

 

Phil stood outside the door, fully dressed with two cups of coffee in his hand. Susan was rubbing against his legs, as she usually did. When he saw Dan, his face instantly broke into a smile.

 

“Goodmorning. I brought you coffee!” He grinned behind the glass while Dan fumbled with the lock.

 

“Coffee?” Dan replied dumbly, his brain hadn’t fully caught up to the situation. He stared at Phil through the door before edging it open so he could come inside.

 

“You told me you liked coffee before you opened up, so…” If Dan had been more coherent, he would have noticed Phil’s face flushing slightly as he thrust the cup towards him. “… Since, I am opening a coffee shop, it’d be rude of me not to oblige.”

 

The cup was warms in his hands and the pleasant scent of caramel snapped him out of his sleepy daze. He shot a tired smile at Phil, bringing the cup to his lips.

 

“Thank you, but um, you know it’s early as fuck, right?”

 

Phil grimaced, offering nothing more than a small shrug. His gaze fell to his shoes, idly kicking at the floor. It was obvious he wanted to say something. He was practically chewing his bottom lip to pieces, doing whatever he could to avoid looking at Dan. An odd sense of panic shot through Dan’s body. Obviously Phil wasn’t cross with him or he wouldn’t have brought him coffee. Phil had never been one to censor himself around Dan, even only knowing each other for the short amount of time they had. His opinions were usually out in the open, speaking whatever came to his mind. But he seemed different today, there was a hesitancy in his actions that put Dan on edge.

 

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Dan finally spit out, breaking the silence that had lingered too long and almost instantly regretting it.

 

Phil sighed, heavy and full of all the anxiety that seemed to be radiating off of his body. Dan knew the feeling.

 

“You’re going to think it’s weird.” He finally replied, looking at Dan for the first time since he handed him the coffee.

 

“Why?”

 

Phil sighed again, his fists clenched at his sides before blurting out the last thing Dan thought he would hear.

 

“I just wanted to see you and I’m going to be busy all day. So… I just… came here.”

 

It would be a lie if Dan tried to deny the blush spreading across his face. He was positive he was turning as red as the poppies in the vase on the desk behind him. Phil wasn’t faring much better, he’d practically turned completely away from Dan, but the dusting of pink spreading across his cheeks was still visible. There was a beat of silence, followed by Dan stammering out something completely unintelligible, before he finally managed to regain some form of composure.

 

“You brought coffee, I’ll make pancakes.”

 

The tension in Phil’s body physically released. Dan was pleased to see the smile back on his face as he turned back to look at Dan.

 

“Pancakes? You’re spoiling me.”

 

Just like that, the banter was back.

 

* * *

 

 

It didn’t stop there.

Phil started to make more excuses to see Dan. And by the end of the week, Dan found himself doing the same. It was stupid, really. They both knew they could just walk across the street and say “wanna hang out?” and that could be that. But, they continued playing the same game.

 

Phil showing up at obscure times with a new drink for Dan to try.

 

Dan running across the street when his shop was empty, showing Phil something weird he found online.

 

They texted into early morning hours, talking about everything and nothing all at the same time.

 

Susan even found herself curled up on Dan’s counter some days when Phil was particularly busy across the street.

 

Impulsively one night, Dan found himself sitting on the couch inside Phil’s future coffee shop. It was a mess, a disaster, Phil was disorganized, and it stressed Dan out. He had voiced all of this to Phil the moment he stepped inside only to be greeted with a laugh and an explicit demand to sit on the couch and not touch anything. Phil had then disappeared somewhere in the back. Dan lasted about three minutes before he was off the couch and on a organization binge.

 

“Dan!”

 

Dan whirled around, face to face with an amused looking Phil. A ceramic mug was in one hand, a plate of cookies in the other. “I told you to sit on the couch and not move.”

 

“But, I-“ The words were abruptly cut off by Phil shushing him. He had slipped the plate onto the table, shoving his index finger directly over Dan's lips. Dan audibly gasped, whatever protests he was about to voice fizzled out. He felt like he had short circuited.

 

“No buts. You’re always doing something. Do you ever just relax? You stress  _me_  out sometimes.”

 

Both the cookies and mug were now placed on the table next to the couch and Phil’s hand was wrapped around Dan’s, pulling him towards the couch. Phil was talking, but Dan heard nothing. His gaze had fallen to their hands. Phil’s fingers tightened around his hand as he stumbled behind him, lost in his own head.

 

This was casual, of course. He wasn’t just holding his hand because he wanted to. Phil was simply pulling him to where he wanted him to go. Or atleast that’s what Dan was telling himself before Phil intertwined his fingers with Dan’s and flopped down on the couch, tugging Dan down with him. The atmosphere had shifted. Phil’s gaze drifted to Dan, an eyebrow raising as if to silently ask if this was okay. Dan must have nodded because Phil smiled and began rambling about what color he was going to paint his walls.

 

* * *

 

 

It went on from there. That night was the start of many casual touches, mostly initiated by Phil. His hand seemed to always find the small of Dan’s back, gently moving him aside when he was in the way. Sometimes he just let it linger there, sending shiver through Dan’s body that he hoped were not visible. Their hands seemed to constantly be together, guiding each other this way and that, even when it wasn’t necessary. Phil had even taken to brushing Dan’s hair out of his face, letting his fingers rest on his cheek before dropping them, leaving tingles in their wake.

 

It was overwhelming. Dan had lived alone for so long that solitude had become his friend. He had enjoyed his alone time but now, it was all Phil. All Phil. And as overwhelming as it was, Dan couldn’t help but like the thrill. He liked the stolen touches and the attention, he liked having someone who seemed to just get him,  ** _he liked Phil_**. And he hoped it was safe to assume the feeling was mutual.

 

Glancing across the street, the lights were dim in Phil’s shop. He was sat atop the counter reading something that looked like a manual for one of the many things he had left to put together. As if on instinct, he looked up from the pages and across the street, making immediate eye contact with Dan.  Neither looked away for what should have been an awkward amount of time, but it was comfortable. Phil smiled before looking down and fumbling for his phone. Typing something out, he glanced across the street again. On cue, Dan’s phone chimed.

 

**Phil : Come over? Gotta question…**

 

The ellipses made Dan nervous. That and the vagueness of the text. Phil’s texts were usually filled with emojis and a string of lol’s and other text acronyms. This was just… not. When he glanced up from his phone again, Phil was gone. Susan had taken his place on the counter and was working her way to batting the manual Phil was reading to the floor. Dan usually would have been amused by her antics (surprisingly, he’d taken a liking to the cat – much to Phil’s delight) but tonight, he was just nervous. It was like every cell in his body was on edge. In the back of his mind, he knew he was making a big deal over nothing, but he couldn’t help it.

 

With a sigh, he pushed the door opened and made his way across the street.


	5. Chapter 5

Dan was unsure why he hesitated at Phil’s doorway. His anxiety had never stopped him from walking in straight away before, excluding maybe a few times during their early friendship, but now? They’d been friends (or whatever they were) for long enough that it shouldn’t be an issue.

 

Yet, here he stood. His fingers wrapped around the metal door handle, staring down Susan through the window. She was unbothered, as usual, her tail flicking from side to side as she watched Dan through the door. If a cat could taunt, she certainly was. Dan was sure of it. She was basically mocking him for standing out in the cold and not coming inside just because he was nervous. It was childish, but he shot a glare at the cat before stepping inside.

 

He wasn’t stupid. Dan knew it was more than just anxiety about Phil’s shortly worded text that was causing him to hesitate. He had walked across the street with expectations… and expectations usually led to disappointment.

 

Their friendship had ventured into uncharted territory, lately. Both Dan and Phil were aware of this. They were well past tip toe-ing the line between friendly banter and flirting and the thought of asking Phil on a proper date, or vice versa, had crossed his mind many times. Usually when he was laying in bed at night, alone with his thoughts. Dan was sure Phil had thought of it, too. In fact, Dan was sure that Phil had almost asked him out more than once in the past week alone.

 

* * *

 

It was should have been obvious the first time it happened.

 

Phil was sitting atop Dan’s counter after the shop had closed for the night. The heels of his converse were tapping at the wood behind him as he swayed his feet, watching Dan flit around the shop, putting things away. Dan could feel his gaze following him around, admittedly becoming more self conscious as the time went on, but he didn’t comment on it. He had just turned around, raising an eyebrow towards Phil, asking a silent question of ‘ _why are you staring at me?_ ’

 

In honesty, Dan had expected him to look away.

He hadn’t.

 

“Dan?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Phil’s blush wasn’t like Dan’s. When Dan blushed, it was obvious. His face turned a dark shade of red that spread down his neck and to the tips of his ears. It was far from cute (despite Phil telling him otherwise). Phil, however, was different. It always started with a light dusting of pink across cheeks that reminded Dan of cotton candy. The contrast between the pink and the paleness of his skin always made Dan’s heart skip a few beats. 

 

Phil was blushing now. Dan noticed immediately, cocking his head to the side.

 

“I wanted to ask you if, well, never mind. It’s not important. I’ll ask you later. I have to go… feed Susan?”

 

The words spilled from Phil’s lips so fast that it sounded like gibberish, leaving Dan deadpanning and prepared to argue. To tell him that it was fine and he should just ask, to say it was annoying to do that and that he couldn’t just bring something like that up without elaborating because it would drive him insane all night. But Phil was out the door, jogging across the street before he had a chance to even get one syllable out.

 

Dan was shocked. Phil had never bolted out on a conversation like that. Needless to say, Dan paced a lot that night. Things like that always had a habit of getting him caught up in his own mind.

* * *

 

Much to Dan’s chagrin, the same situation happened two more times during the week. They always started with Phil blushing and ended with him running away. Every time, leaving Dan in a ball of nerves about whatever was being unspoken between them. It didn’t take much thought for Dan to come to the conclusion, that maybe, Phil was trying to ask him out.

 

It wasn’t unreasonable to assume. They had been headed down this path for a while now but neither of them had taken the next step.

 

Now, standing inside away from the chill of the night air, Dan couldn’t help but get his hopes up. There was so much in the room that practically screamed Phil. From the artwork to the paint color to the weird decorations sporadically tossed around. Even the disorganization, of all things, was starting to become endearing to Dan. It was in this moment that the extent of Dan's infatuation with Phil hit him like a ton of bricks. He found himself nervously exhaling, hands clenched at his sides. Dan wasn't even sure the last time he'd grown so attached to someone was and the thought scared him more than he cared to admit. But this was _Phil_ and Dan was willing to be brave if it meant this working out for them.

The thought that Phil couldn’t run this time was calming his nerves. They were at his place, not Dan’s. He had to ask and Dan was going to say yes.

* * *

 

Dan had plenty of time to continue to get his hopes up and dwell on his newly discovered feelings before Phil came into the room. He shot a quick grin at Dan before practically collapsing on the couch.

“Hey.”

 

“Hi.” Dan sat down next to him, leaning back against the cushion to look towards Phil. He was already blushing, staring at ceiling above them.

 

“Do you want a coffee?”

 

Phil turned his head, letting it rest against the couch, as he stared at Dan. They were close, Dan thought, close enough that he could _just kiss him right now_. As if Phil could read his mind, his eyes dropped from Dan’s, lingering on his lips for what felt like forever.

 

Dan wasn’t even aware of the breath he was holding until he tried to talk, “Was that what you wanted to ask me?”

 

Phil laughed lowly, shaking his head against the couch. He had slipped a hand onto Dan’s knee and Dan was sure his heart was about to beat out of his chest.

 

“No,” His thumb had moved to trace shapes against the fabric of Dan’s jeans, “I have an actual question.”

 

Everything about this moment was getting far too intimate. Sure, they had been close before. Dan was no stranger to the lingering touches Phil had placed sporadically over his body during the past few weeks. But this was different.

Phil had moved closer, his hand moving from Dan’s knee to the middle of his thigh, and before Dan even had a chance to process that new development… Phil was kissing him. His lips collided against Dan’s so suddenly that he audibly gasped, tossing an arm around Phil’s neck to keep from falling backwards off the couch. His hand had drifted to rest against Dan’s chest, but Dan couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed about his rapid heartbeat.

 

And just like that, Phil pulled away. His fingers drifted down the front of Dan’s shirt, and then back up, repeating the process continuously as he looked down towards Dan. His head had tipped to the side a bit, his eyes clouded with emotions that Dan couldn’t even begin to process.

 

“Sorry.” Phil finally broke the silence, moving his thumb down Dan’s jaw line and resting it against his bottom lip. He pulled away with a sigh.

 

“Why?” Dan was surprised he could be coherent at the moment. He had expectations when he came over, but they certainly weren’t anything close to that. Dan dropped his arm from around Phil’s neck. He missed the contact as soon as he pulled away.

 

Phil moved to sit up and Dan followed, unsure what was even happening at this point. They had fallen into a silence again until Phil’s hand was suddenly cupping the left side of Dan’s face, turning him so that he had to look at him.

 

“Was that okay?”

 

There was so much intensity in Phil’s stare, Dan barely felt himself nodding against his palm. His head had tipped to rest there, eyes shutting instinctively.

 

“Good, I… That wasn’t… Look, this may be a bad time to ask, but I’m going to anyway.”

 

Dan hummed. He was pretty positive he knew where this was going.

 

“And you can say no, if you want… No pressure or anything. I just don’t want this to make things weird between us. So, if it does, just tell me to shut up and we can pretend I never said anything. Okay? I just need to-"

 

“Phil.” Dan cut him off. They had leaned back to the couch, facing each other. They would have been making eye contact if Dan’s eyes weren’t still closed. Phil hadn’t pulled his hand away. He was drawing circles on Dan’s skin with his fingers, sending a spark of shivers down Dan’s spine with every touch. Somehow the touch was both calming and electrifying at the same time. “Go on, just ask.”

 

“Okay.” He heard Phil sigh shakily, feeling the tremor in his hand as his body shuffled against the couch. “Will you teach me how to do magic?”

 

“ _ **Yes**_.” Dan blurted out his answer before Phil even finished talking, his eyes immediately snapping open upon hearing him finish. “Wait, what?”

 

Phil grimaced, dropping his hand away from Dan.

 

“I know you don’t like it, or aren’t really open about it, but I never had any witches who were my friend because of how my parents were.”

 

_**Friend.**_ The word hit Dan like a slap in the face and he almost physically recoiled. Friends didn't randomly kiss each other, only to pull away and completely ignore it. Phil had leaned back to how he was at the start of the conversation, his gaze on the ceiling and hands folded in his lap. Dan didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. It didn’t matter though, because Phil was still rambling about his parents and how he was closeted from magic his whole life. He was talking like his life was so horrible being forbidden from being around magic. Dan wanted to disagree, to argue. But he didn’t trust the words to leave his lips. Finally, Phil sighed again.

“I don’t know, Dan. I just got my hopes up when I met you. Even though you weren’t open about it, you obviously weren’t hiding it.”

_You got your hopes up?_ Dan thought to himself. He fought back the bitter laugh that threatened to leave his lips.

 

Dan had been silent too long. Every muscle in his body wanted to get up and leave. There was no need to show Phil how stupid and confused he really felt in this moment. He didn’t want to show anyone that, especially the person who caused it. But, Phil caught his gaze. There was a frown on his lips and Dan immediately looked away because Phil wasn’t the one who should be upset right now. The expectancy for an answer in Phil’s eyes was also hard to bare. The word “no” was on the tip of Dan’s tongue before Phil said the one thing that could have changed his mind.

 

“It gave me another reason to spend more time with you.”

 

Dan hated the flutter of butterflies that erupted in his stomach. He hated even more that he found himself agreeing, nodding slowly. Phil’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas, pulling Dan into his chest in the tightest hug he had ever received.

 

* * *

 

Dan had ended up leaving Phil’s in a flurry of emotions. Phil had kissed him again, on the cheek rather than the lips. His hands had ran through Dan’s hair casually as he talked, making Dan want to melt into the floor. The walk across the street was a blur as his mind whirred with thoughts somewhere along the lines of ‘ _What the fuck just happened_?’

A small part of him wanted to believe he was overreacting, that Phil was interested in him and just happened to get to caught up in the moment and wasn’t using him solely to help with a childhood fantasy of learning magic. He really tried to justify it. But, in the end, he just couldn’t.

Maybe this whole thing really had been a ploy to get Dan to say yes. A lot of witches were growing hesitant to teach magic. It wasn't hard to assume that maybe Phil was willing to go to this length to get a teacher. But then again, maybe he was taking that thought to the extreme as well.

It seemed his mind only worked in extremes, sometimes.

Dan collapsed into his bed with a groan not even bothering to change clothes. His phone chimed and he knew it was Phil, because no one else ever texted him, but he didn’t bother to check. It chimed again as he began to drift off.

He’d deal with it tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's not smut in this chapter, but towards the end it gets a little (kinda) nsfw. just wanted to give a head's up in case that bothered you. (on that note, if you're reading this, do you want smut in the future? Let me know.)

It was no surprise Dan had a restless night. Aside from the hours of intrusive thoughts that seemed to never end, whenever he did manage to doze off, he’d immediately start to dream about Phil. It was exhausting to say the least.

 

Somehow he still managed to get up and open the shop on time, though he was disgruntled and far more out of it than he intended to be. Dan decided he may have been jumping to conclusions last night. Against his better judgement, he was going to believe that Phil wasn’t just using him. A part of him thought that was probably wishful thinking and that Dan had just grown too attached. People did that, sometimes, when they were infatuated. They looked past all the red flags. He started to wonder if he was doing that right now.

 

The thought didn’t linger long.

 

The bell on the door chimed and Phil came right inside with a grin on his face and a coffee in his hand and all negative feelings vanished. Instinctively, Dan reached for the cup ignoring the formalities of saying ‘goodmorning’ first. It seemed as Phil had other plans. He pulled the cup away from his hand before he had a chance to even touch it, taking a step way too far into Dan’s personal space.

 

“No goodmorning? Rude. I might just keep this coffee now.”

 

Dan scoffed, or at least tried to. In reality, he only mustered a weak eye roll which looked far more fond than he wanted it to.

 

“Goodmorning. There. Can I have the coffee now?”

 

Phil chuckled, his lips meeting Dan’s cheek for a split second before handing him the cup.  

 

“That’s better.” He hopped up to sit on the counter, watching Dan silently for a moment. “What’re your plans for the day?”

 

“Um, working?”

 

Phil laughed. “If you’re slow today, do you think we can start… ya know?”

 

Dan tried to hide his hesitation. A quick nod was all that he managed.

 

“Yeah, totally, yeah. We can start.”

 

* * *

 

They started slow. Phil followed Dan through the shop, Susan on his heels, as he showed him all the herbs and plants he’d seen so many times before. Dan’s explanations were long and drawn out, Phil noticeably zoning out while he talked, to which Dan would smack him with whatever paper or book he had in his hand and go on the same lecture he always did when Phil stopped paying attention,

 

_“How are you going to learn if you don’t listen?”_

 

Phil would always sigh and complain, light heartedly, that he thought this was going to be less book work and more cool stuff. It reminded Dan of how he thought when he was younger. How the basics of potion making and healing were lame and boring and he wanted to do something more fun. It was weird to be on the receiving end of the conversation. For someone who seemed so keen on learning this, Phil was easily distracted. He was constantly wrapping his arm around Dan’s waist, making his breath hitch and his words come out a jumbled mess. The touches led to teasing and the teasing led to kisses and the kisses led to impromptu make out sessions behind Dan’s counter. All of which left Dan a love stricken mess. It was funny, Phil said, peppering kisses across Dan’s cheek. To which Dan would only reduce into more of a mess than he was before.

 

_Funny._

 

Dan was still unsure of what exactly they were doing. They weren’t dating, they weren’t friends, they were in a weird space somewhere in between that. A place Dan couldn’t exactly put his finger on. It bothered him to think about. He was finding his feelings for Phil growing more and more everyday and while Phil’s flirting was only growing as well, that didn’t mean anything.

 

Dan had already noticed Phil’s personality borderlined on the flirty side. He’d seen him talking with the landlord of his building, laughing a bit too loudly at whatever horrible joke she probably made. His hand lingering on her arm as she stumbled leaving his coffeeshop. He had shot her a similar smile to the one he’d given Dan on their first meeting, his bottom lip slowly getting caught between his teeth. Dan didn’t miss the way his gaze lingered as she walked away.

 

Phil seemed to be like that with everyone though.  Every person he came in contact with, whether Dan was watching from across the street or standing right next to him, seemed to be enamored with Phil almost instantly. Even the repair man who had come to fix Dan’s door left Dan’s shop with a visible blush across his face after Phil wished him a goodnight.

 

Dan hated how his mind worked. He didn’t always want to jump to conclusions like he was, but it was hard to trust. Maybe Phil was just nice and maybe everyone was just like Dan. Immediately drawn to the man with the dark hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to have an endless supply of happiness radiating from him. Dan couldn’t blame them. Phil was… Well, Phil. Everything about him was desirable. Which was probably why Dan got so jealous, so quickly.

 

* * *

 

It turned out Phil was good at magic. Just not the kind Dan dabbled in. After forcing him to read through a few stacks of books on herbs, Phil had taken a liking to one of the elemental magic books Dan had hidden under stacks of paper behind the counter. It was almost a secret, the book being there. It was something Dan still tried to do to this day to no avail. So when Phil found it, eyebrow raised in Dan’s direction as he held the book up, Dan hadn’t hesitated to let him read it. What were the odds that he’d be able to do it anyway?

 

Life was ironic.

 

It took Phil all of two days of nonstop handsigning, before a small spark erupted from the tips of his fingers. He turned to Dan with the biggest grin on his face.

 

“Dan! Fire! I- Look!”

 

Dan’s mouth practically fell to the floor. He’d been trying to do that for years and Phil – _Forbidden from being around magic until like two months ago_ – Lester had managed to do it in a few days. Unbelievable.

“No way… No fuckin’ way.”

 

Dan grabbed Phil’s wrists, pulling his hands towards him to check for any way this was some kind of a joke. When the only thing he saw was Phil’s palms, he looked back up in disbelief. The same grin was still on Phil’s face, his eyes sparkling with awe as he looked down towards his hands. It didn’t even seem to matter at the moment that Dan was holding on to his wrists.

 

“I can’t believe I just did that! Is that what all magic feels like? How did that even happen?!”

 

Phil was rambling now. His excitement was spilling into the words leaving his lips, his footsteps echoing around Dan’s shop as he paced as gesticulated wildly. Susan scampered out of the way of his feet after he almost stepped on her, hissing slightly in Phil’s direction. For the first time, he didn’t notice. Dan just watched all of this in amusement. He was a little jealous. The same childhood desire for a “cool magic” coming back full force for a bit, but the thought was quickly pushed away. Phil was happy. He was so happy and the smile on his face was contagious. Dan found himself biting his bottom lip, shaking his head in fond amusement. Finally, Phil seemed to have calmed down.

 

“Thank you.” He started, cupping Dan’s face in his hands. He grinned towards the brunette and Dan couldn’t help but smile back.

 

“I didn’t even do anything, Phil. That was all you. I was the one making you read herbal-“

 

Phil leaned in and kissed him, shutting Dan down midsentence. He smiled against Dan’s lips, causing Dan’s heart to leap into his chest, before pulling away.

 

There was something different about this kiss. Maybe it was the fact Phil poured all of his emotions to, practically transferring his happiness to Dan by his lips alone. Dan wasn’t sure. What he was sure of, was that he was blushing ( _like usual_ ) and he hoped that the dim lighting of the room would hide it.

 

It didn’t.

 

“You’re blushing.”

 

Dan huffed, looking away immediately. Phil poked him in cheek, gently turning his head to look back at him. It was oddly reminiscent of the first night they kissed.

 

“Don’t look away. You’re beautiful.”

 

If Dan wasn’t blushing before, he surely was now. His mouth fell open slightly, stammering out what he hoped was a decipherable ‘thank you.’ Phil chuckled quietly as he pulled his thumb across Dan’s bottom lip.

 

“You really are, Dan. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

 

There wasn’t a chance to respond, not that Dan had anything intelligible to say back, before Phil’s lips were on his again and he was backing Dan into the wall. They both stumbled, giggling against each other’s lips as they moved. Hands grabbing at each other for stability before Dan’s back hit the wall with a quiet thud.

There was a brief pause, before Phil had moved his lips to trail down Dan’s neck, eliciting a breathy gasp from the brunette. He ran his hands through the back of Phil’s hair, gripping it tighter the lower his lips trailed. Phil was mumbling something against his skin, the words getting lost in the heat of the moment.

 

“Phil, I-“

“I know.”

 

Phil’s hand had moved to Dan’s waist, his fingers teasing the hem of his shirt. Dan jolted when they finally made contact with his skin and he swore he could feel Phil’s lips curving into a smirk against his collarbone. His touches were lightly trailing up and down Dan’s sides and across his chest leaving a trail of heat in their wake and a desire for more in the pit of Dan’s stomach.

God… Dan desperately wanted there to be more. He was practically pushing himself into Phil’s touch, only to have Phil pull away so the touches were still feather light.  

 

“You look frustrated.” Phil murmured, nipping at the base of Dan’s neck. He laughed, in that annoying ‘I know what I’m doing to you’ kind of way, before sucking a light mark against Dan’s skin.

Dan _**was**_ frustrated. He wanted all of Phil. Not just the light touches and gentle kisses. He wanted to be face first in the mattress while Phil fucked him from behind, he wanted hickeys and bites marks, he wanted his mouth to be wrapped around Phil’s-

“Dan.” Phil’s voice stopped his train of thought immediately. His name sounded good coming out of Phil’s mouth when his voice sounded the way it did, low and husky. It made a burst of arousal shoot through his body.

 

“Y-Yeah?”

“Is this okay?”

 

Dan nodded and tugged Phil upstairs to his bedroom. That was the first night Phil stayed over.


	7. Chapter 7

When Dan awoke the next morning, it was to a face full of dark hair.

Or fur, rather.

Susan had taken residence on the pillow Phil had been using the night before, digging her claws into the fabric and purring loud enough that it was causing small vibrations to transfer to where Dan lay his head. He hummed slightly, nudging the cat away as he subconsciously reached for the other side of the bed. A sense of dread ran through his body when his fingers fell onto the sheets instead of Phil.

 

Aside from Susan, Phil’s side of the bed was empty. The sheets were still warm, blanket crumpled at the end of the bed along with Phil’s jumper that had been thrown there hastily the night before. His shoes were still next to the door which was slightly ajar, allowing the hushed whispering of Phil’s voice to float into the room. All the tension in Dan’s body physically released.

 

_He didn’t leave. Phil was still there. He just was on the phone._

 

Cringing as his feet hit the cold wood of the floor, Dan followed his voice, lingering by the doorframe.

 

‘ _No, not that I’ve seen yet. I’ve been looking, but_ …’ Phil’s voice trailed off, presumably to let the person on the other end of the conversation talk.

‘ _I can’t just walk up to random strangers and ask them if they know magic, mum.’_

 

Dan could feel his pulse quicken beneath the thin fabric of the shirt he was wearing. All the red flags; **Everything**. God, he was so stupid. This had always been about the magic. Dan scrambled back to the bed, falling into it with a thud that disturbed Susan. She stretched, almost intentionally digging her claws into Dan’s arm that was closest to her, before jumping off the bed and sauntering down the hallway.

 

Phil had already hung up. His hushed whispers had fallen silent, replaced by the sound of his feet padding repeatedly against the floor; pacing. Dan wasn’t sure what to do or even what to make of the situation. He didn’t have time to dwell on it before Phil quietly slipped back into the room.

 

He hadn’t noticed that Dan was awake yet as he carefully shut the door with the tiniest of clicks from the lock. Dan had already propped himself up on one elbow, mentally praying he looked more relaxed than he really was, as Phil turned around.

 

“Morning.” Dan mumbled, forcing a shaky smile onto his lips. Phil’s smile seemed more genuine but the strain behind it was obvious as he sat on the edge of the bed.

 

“Did I wake you up?”

 

Dan shook his head as Phil began to drag his fingers through the mess of his curls, placing a gentle kiss against his forehead.   
  
“Good,” Phil dropped his hand away from Dan’s hair, tugging his jumper over his head, “I don’t want you to think I’m running out on you, but I have to go.”

 

Dan nodded. He didn’t trust his voice right now. Phil cupped his cheek, kissing him quickly before he and Susan were out the door, yelling a promise to bring Dan coffee later over his shoulder.

 

* * *

 

**_‘I can’t just walk up to random strangers and ask them if they know magic, mum.’_ **

 

The words echoed in Dan’s head as he pulled all the jars from the shelves of his shop. He was stress cleaning, as if wiping down every surface in his shop would somehow wipe away his anxiety. He knew it wouldn’t. He knew his mind would be flooded with thoughts about Phil and his anti-witch family.

 

Why were they looking for people with magic?

 

Were they looking for /him/ specifically?

 

What was the plan once Phil found someone with magic? Surely it wasn’t to learn it (like he was doing now).

 

The whole event triggered thoughts of Dan’s past that he’d kept locked away for years. After his mother’s death, he and Julie had spent a lot of time running. The “anti-witch people” (as their younger selves had referred to them) were prominent then. It wasn’t just their mother who had taken the fall, but quite a few witches who were well known in the magic community. It had all been so odd to Dan at the time. He’d grown up with magic. It was there to heal and protect. He wasn’t naïve enough to believe that all people used it for good, but why was everyone being punished?

 

He’d spent two years hiding away with Julie before leaving her at a distant Aunt’s house, secluded in the woods, with a promise she’d do anything to keep her safe. It had been years since then. The last time he’d seen his sister, she had tear tracks down her face and a pout on her lips that clearly said “Don’t leave me here” and “I’m scared.”

 

He’d left her anyway. He was 20 by then, Julie having just turned 15. She had so much life ahead of her and Dan wanted answers. At the time, he’d even wanted revenge. He wasn’t willing to risk her life for that.

 

* * *

 

Dan hadn’t even bothered to open the shop today. Instead, he’d pulled the curtains and turned the deadbolt, leaving the “Closed” sign flipped to the street. The speakers inside were pumping out a mix of music, ranging from Bach to some obscure K Pop group Dan couldn’t remember the name of. It was a rarity for him to do something like this. After years of practice, Dan had gotten relatively good at working through his anxiety. But today, the thought of seeing people (especially Phil) was the last thing he could manage until he got his mind in order.

 

So, with the lights dim and the pulsing sound of his Spotify playlist, Dan turned his phone notifications to silent and set to work.  His fingers ghosted across the empty shelves, pacing around the room with a rag in one hand and a spray bottle in the other. He’d barely managed to get to half of one side of the room before a succession of knocks rang through the shop. Internally, Dan was panicking. It wasn’t like he could avoid Phil forever, but there was no way he could play this ‘cleaning day’ off as anything other than an anxious breakdown. He hated how well Phil was able to read him sometime. Hell, he was surprised Phil hadn’t already made his way across the street the moment he saw the closed sign was still on the door.

 

The knocking stopped and Dan hesitantly took a few steps towards the door, only to have the knocking start all over again, more frantically, startling him into dropping everything in his hands on the floor. He cursed rather loudly, kicking the fallen cleaning products to the side.

“Coming!”

Plastering on the most neutral expression he could muster, Dan opened the door. As he expected, Phil stood in the street, two coffees in hand. What he didn’t expect, however, was the look of utmost worry that was spread across his face. Phil’s brow was furrowed and Dan wanted to run his fingers across it, to smooth it out. Despite having just slept with Phil the night before (in more way than one), he looked like hadn’t slept in days. It was such a stark comparison to the happy-go-lucky Phil that he was used to that Dan was unsure what to even say.

 

“I need to tell you something.” Phil blurted out in a hurry, his words strung together like he hadn’t wanted to say them at all.

 

Dan could feel the color draining from his face. That was just the kind of sentence that sent his anxiety into overdrive (especially after this morning). Somehow, he mustered a nod and stepped to the side so Phil could come in.

 

 “Okay, okay. God, I hate this.” Phil was pacing frantically. He’d practically dropped the coffee cups onto the counter, sending a burst of worry through Dan that they would spill everywhere. They didn’t.

 

Unsure what he should do, Dan stepped back and leaned against the counter. He let his eyes follow Phil as he paced around the jars on the floor, mumbling under his breath. A flood of familiarity rushed through Dan. They’d been in the same situation before, though it was usually Phil watching Dan and it was lacking the tension in the air.

Phil stopped abruptly on the opposite end of the shop, resting his forehead against an empty shelf. Dan watched him exhale heavily before he turned around.

 

“I really like you, Dan. Like a lot… Okay? You know that right?”

 

Dan nodded his head, subconsciously tipping it to the side.

 

“Right, okay. Good.” He paused, shaking his head. “I didn’t come here to open a coffee shop.” A pause. “No, I mean, I did. But that wasn’t the whole plan.”

 

Phil gesticulated with his arms, as he always did, before running his fingers through his hair roughly.

 

“My parents… They were looking for someone.” Dan’s breath hitched in his throat as Phil continued. “Or, I guess not someone… You, really. They were… are… looking for you.”

 

Phil’s voice trailed off as he looked out the window. His hands were wringing the bottom of his shirt and even from across the shop, Dan could see the tremor in his body. But, he couldn’t say anything. Not even if he wanted to. It seemed like his voice was stuck in his throat, all he managed was a breathy sigh that borderlined on a small whimper. Phil’s head snapped back to look at Dan, his expression falling completely when he looked at the brunette’s expression.

 

“Dan…” Phil didn’t hesitate to make his way across the shop floor, somehow gracefully avoided the mess all over the floor. He reached to cup Dan’s face, hesitating, before letting his hand drop to his side.

 

“You were looking for me… for your parents…” Dan was surprised at how rough his voice came out. Though it was only a whisper, Phil visibly flinched from the hurt seeping through his tone.

 

“No! Well, yes, but I wasn’t ever going to tell them anything… You know I’m not like them!”

 

“ _Do I?_   Do I know that, Phil?” Dan couldn’t stop himself now. He was scared and upset and it was all translating into anger. His fists curled at his sides, jerking his body away from Phil. “I- What am I supposed to think now? I heard you on the phone this morning and it’s been eating me alive all day! I figured that they were just looking for witches in general, after all you told me about them! I didn’t think it was me! You- You were basically just using me!”

 

 “Dan, please. You can be mad at me, you can hate me. But you need to listen to me for one second.” Phil’s hand rest on Dan’s shoulder, fingers tightening against the fabric of his shirt. His voice was pleading, shaking with every syllable that left his lips. Dan shrugged his hand off. His anger had fizzled into just a general state of being upset. He turned to look at Phil, silently, giving him a chance to talk.

 

“You need to leave for a while.”

 

This time, Phil’s voice was a whisper. He was looking at the floor, bottom lip caught between his teeth.

 

“Why?”

 

“My shop is opening. My parents are coming here… They don’t know I’ve been lying, but they will once they come here. If they see you… this.”

 

Gesturing around the room, Phil frowned. He opened his mouth to say something else, but abruptly shut it upon seeing Dan’s expression. Or lack there of. Dan’s face seemed void of all emotion, like someone had siphoned every good and bad feeling out of his body and left him with nothing. On top of that, Dan was silent.

 

“Dan… Please.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ll leave.”

 

And with that, he did. He turned and made his way up the stairs, leaving Phil alone in the shop downstairs. It only hit him when he landed face first in his bed that he never asked Phil **_why_**   his parents were looking for him.


	8. Chapter 8

_Phil: Dan?_

_Phil: Please answer me._

_Phil: I know you’re mad, but please._

_Phil: It’s important.._

_Read 10:13 AM._

 

Dan tossed his phone across the bed, not even caring if it bounced off and hit the floor. His mind had been reeling with thoughts, from the best case scenario to the worst, all night and all he wanted to do was sleep forever.

Except he can’t. Because apparently Phil’s “ _I hate witches and everything they stand for_ ” parents were looking for him. Why? Probably just to murder him on the spot. That’s what happened to him mom, isn’t it? It’d be fitting for it to run in the family.

Dan shook his head, his curls brushing across his forehead. There was no sense to sit around and be bitter about it. That wasn’t doing him any good. He could be bitter about it later. But right now, he needed a plan. He needed to figure out where he was going to go, how long he was going to stay there, and if he had intentions of forgiving Phil when he came back.

 

**_Spoiler alert: He did._ **

 

There was something about Phil that made it hard to hate him. He could blame it on his crush, which let’s be real was far more than a crush at this point, but that wasn’t it. Phil was just a good person. He’d made a few mistakes, but so had everyone, right? The only difference was, this mistake could have ended up with Dan getting killed.

Sluggishly, he managed to stumble out of his bed without even bothering to make it back up. What was the point? He was halfway out the door of his room to go make some instant coffee (he wasn’t ready to drink Phil’s good coffee again) when his phone started ringing. Not a text, an actual phone call. The default iPhone ringtone sang out from under his sheets where the phone had landed and Dan eyed the piece of aluminum with skepticism.

 

**PRIVATE ; Slide to answer.**

 

With everything that had happened over the last few days, Dan felt his blood run cold. He never got phone calls and if he did, he definitely knew who they were. Opting to be safe, he let the call go to voicemail. No sooner had the ringing stopped, it started again. The phone vibrated against the bed with the same words as before:

 

**PRIVATE ; Slide to answer.**

 

He couldn’t deny the shake in his fingers as he picked up his phone, sliding his finger across the bottom part of the screen. A part of him felt like he was being overly paranoid, but he felt like he had the right to be.

 

“Hello?”

 

There was a lot of background noise. Talking, the wind, people moving around. But no one was saying anything. He pulled the phone away from his ear, panicking because this was exactly the kind of horror movie situation he didn’t want to be in, when he heard them.

 

“Dan?”

 

The voice struck a chord in Dan’s heart. They sounded nervous, scared. But on top of that, they sounded familiar.

 

“Who’s this?”

 

The girl on the other end of the phone released a breath loudly into the receiver making Dan cringe.

 

“It’s Julie.”

 

Dan could have passed out on the spot. He hadn’t spoken to his sister since the night he left her with his Aunt.

 

“Julie? Wha- How? How did you get this number?”

 

She hesitated, leaving a pause that made Dan wary of her answer.

 

“I just did. Look, I-“

 

“Prove it.” Dan interrupted. It was harsh and he didn’t mean to sound so rude, but… “How do I know you’re not lying?”

 

The line fell to the static background noise again, the person on the other side inhaled sharply. Then she started speaking again, recounting so many childhood memories that it almost triggered Dan into a panic attack. Memories that he didn’t want to remember and memories that he held dear to his heart. If this person was faking it, they had done their research. But, Dan was opting to believe them.

 

“What do you want?” He softly cut her off in the middle of a sentence, biting his lip.

 

“I think Mom did something bad…” Julie started, her voice wavering slightly as she spoke. The protective brother instinct in Dan wanted nothing more than to hug her, console her. But she was god knows where and he couldn’t. She started to talk again, barely managing to get one syllable out before there was knocking on Dan’s door. He knew it was Phil. So he shut his bedroom door and ignored it.

 

“What do you mean something bad?”

 

“I don’t know. A while ago, some people came to the house and tried to take me with them. They didn’t – _obviously_ – but they just kept going on about how it was because of something she did. They were mad, Dan. They reminded me a lot of you after mom died… They just seemed mad at the world… I don’t know.”

 

Dan’s mind was reeling. He’d viewed his mother as nothing but a saint his whole life. The fact she could have done something bad enough that was effecting the family to this day – even after her death – wouldn’t compute in his mind. On top of that, he was supposed to protect Julie by leaving her there and in the end, she’d been gotten to before he had. He sighed, biting him bottom lip in frustration.

 

“Are you safe?” was what he settled on asking. There was no attempt to hide the panic in his words.

 

“No.” She didn’t hesitate. “I’ve been looking for you… Can I-”

 

Dan spouted off his address without giving her time to finish her sentence. Apparently, interrupting people was his thing today. The line went dead after she said she was on the way. Dan’s eyes fell to the phone in his hands, blurring the longer he stared at it. He didn’t even notice the tears that had started to fall down his face, or the door shutting downstairs, or the footsteps coming down the hall. He didn’t notice any of it until someone’s arms wrapped around him and he jolted back, arm raised defensively to punch whoever it was. (Like that really would have done any good)

 

It was Phil. He didn’t look shocked. He looked more hurt than anything, but he was clearly trying to hide it.

“You didn’t answer your texts..” He mumbled.

 

Dan nodded, looking at the floor.

 

“I needed to know you were safe and.. Um to tell you I’m sorry.”

 

Dan huffed, “You already told me you were sorry.”

 

“Yeah, I know. But not for this.”

 

Phil tugged on the front of Dan’s shirt, gently pulling the brunette towards him. Instinctively, Dan flinched away. But Phil’s hand gently caught the side of his face, turning it so his lips fell onto Dan’s softly. Dan regretted how quickly he melted into the kiss. He still wanted him. He always would. Phil showed no sign of pulling away until Dan suddenly swayed in his arms, staggering back a single step before Phil’s hand melt the small of his back to keep him upright.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

The regret in Phil’s eyes was clear despite Dan’s blurred vision.

 

“What did you do?” The slur in Dan’s voice surprised him. All the letter morphed together, making the question almost unintelligible.

 

Phil smiled sadly, sinking to the floor as he held Dan against his chest. There wasn’t an ounce of energy left in Dan to fight this. His body slumped against Phil’s, relishing in the familiar warmness, before his eyes flickered shut on their own accord.

The last thing Dan remembered was a low muttering of “I’m sorry” and the feeling of Phil’s lips on the top of his head.


	9. Chapter 9

Phil knew it was stupid. Dan had warned him. He’d gone to extremes to make sure Phil didn’t attempt this. Yet here he was, slouched over the desk in his room, crushing up herbs he’d stolen from Dan’s shop into a little bowl and pouring the contents over a small cloth.

 

Sleeping potions seemed simple:  _One part valerian root, 2 parts clover, some poppy seeds, a cup of water (preferably from a natural river). Crush it all together, enchant it, and tada, a sleeping potion._

 

‘They’re easy to make,’ Dan had said, ‘But they’re really dangerous. It not like it matters though, you’ll never need to make one anyway.’

 

A sleeping potion requires specifics with the ingredients, the spell, even the bowl used to mix it together and the bottle used to store it. One small misstep and the sleeping potion would go from lasting an hour to a month, or worse. Despite the dangers behind it, sleeping potions were in every beginner’s potion books. They were made to look so easy when it truly boiled down to a science that only experience witches had mastered. Dan being one of them, Phil… not so much.

 

And because of that, Dan had taken every recipe for sleeping potions away from Phil. Out of any book he would possibly read, any notebook Dan had scribbled one down on, anywhere. Phil hadn’t cared at the time. Like Dan said, when would have ever needed a sleeping potion anyway?

 

Apparently, he needed one now.

 

He’d panicked, honestly. His parents were coming and Dan wasn’t safe and, **_god_** , if Dan wasn’t the most stubborn person he’d ever met. Phil was so sure that he wasn’t going to leave, that his parents would notice him, and then it would be over. He’d rather Dan be mad at him than be dead.

So, he had gone against his better judgement and found a sleeping potion online. It was similar to the potions in Dan’s books that he’d managed to catch a glimpse of before the brunette tore the page away. Only this one wasn’t necessarily a potion.

 

_‘… transferred via skin contact. Mix into a lotion, a shampoo, soap, even a lipgloss and it will have the same effects as an elixir of the same caliber.’_

 

Ah, the marvels of modern magic. His knowledge was limited on stuff like this. He already was having to brand himself just to enchant the potion properly (something else Dan had explicitly told him not to do), but this website made it seem like it was as simple as it sounded like.

 

Phil scrolled down the page some more, trying to absorb every detail of information on the website. By the time Phil had finished reading various articles like  ‘ _how to slip the potion into someone’s belongings_ ’ (which sounded like something creepy men would use at clubs) to ‘how to touch it without knocking yourself out’ (something he definitely needed to know), he was sure this was going to be fine.

 

Phil stared out the window, a frown on his face. The light in Dan’s room across the street had flicked off, curtains drawn. Dan was going to hate him for this. He might never forgive him. Deep down, he knew that was better than Dan being dead. But that didn’t make it hurt any less. His connection with Dan was the most genuine thing he’d felt in years. It didn’t matter that he was a witch (even though Phil, admittedly, found that cool). All that mattered was the fact, he had something with Dan and was about to ruin it.

 

* * *

 

Phil was currently slumped against the wall of Dan’s bedroom. Dan was leaning into his chest, breathes slow and body limp. It had been about an hour since he passed out and Phil was still surprised that it had worked. He hadn’t had the heart to move yet. Dan looked peaceful. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe he would be when he woke up, but for now, he allowed himself to relish in the calm before the storm.

 

Running his fingers through Dan’s curls, Phil sighed. His life was just turning into a huge mess. His parents would be here in two days. They would arrive and stay in the spare room above Phil’s coffeeshop. He knew there would be an onslaught of questions and he’d have to lie. He’d have to make up some excuses about the ‘abandoned’ potions shop across the street. He'd have to hide the magic insignia branded on his wrist. 

 

The cloth he’d placed against the back of Dan’s neck during their kiss was tossed onto the ground, taunting Phil from it’s crumpled up position on the floor. Phil had practically felt the magic leaving the fabric and moving through Dan’s skin. He had briefly wondered if Dan felt it; If he knew what was happening, but it was too late to do anything. He was a witch; Knowledgeable and skilled, even with his self doubt. He probably knew. It was probably his last thought before the potion kicked in. Phil narrowed his eyes at the fabric as if he could blame this inanimate object for the whole situation. He knew he couldn’t, but he wanted to place the blame anywhere other than himself.

 

With another sigh, Phil shifted to pull his cellphone out of his pocket. He already had a few missed texts.

 

_**PJ: Did u do it?** _   
_**PJ: Phil?** _   
_**PJ: ?? Hope ur not the one asleep rn.** _   
_**PJ: If u don’t reply in the next 20, I’m coming to u** _

Why couldn’t he type full words? Phil grimaced, firstly at the shorthand texts and secondly, at the fact he was worried about his texting style when he had other priorities.

 

* * *

 

Phil had known PJ since he was a little kid, running around the playground near his childhood home. Their parents were friends, bonding over their shared dislike of the magical community. They had grown up together and, subsequently, drifted apart as adults.

 

It was pure convenience that Phil had run into him a few months prior while running some errands. His curly hair had a streak of blue down the middle, his conservative nature that Phil had grown to know seemed to be abandoned for a more casual hipster-esque aesthetic that oddly suited him. His arm was wrapped around a girl’s waist. They were arguing over cereal with PJ first noticed Phil.

 

Their eye contact lasted long enough for it to be awkward before PJ made any move to talk to him. He seemed reserved, almost nervous, as he approached. He kept moving to stand in front of the girl protectively, almost blocking her from Phil’s view completely. Phil had thought it was weird, not that he would comment on it, but didn’t want to be rude. So he said nothing. They exchanged pleasantries in the form of forced small talk before Phil noticed the markings down the girl’s arms.

Dan had told him about them. They were used in certain kinds of magic. _She was a witch._

 

It was in that moment that everything clicked into place.

 

PJ was worried because she was a witch. He thought Phil held the same values as their parents. He was just protecting her.

 

Phil was quick to casually drop in that he was “looking for herbs for his neighbor” and that he was “helping him with a potion”. Not entirely true, not entirely a lie. But it was enough for PJ to relax and for their friendship to rekindle from there.

 

And it had. So much so, that Phil had spilled practically everything about Dan and the whole situation involving his parents to him one night over the phone. PJ had been sympathetic, as Phil expected. He definitely would understand if anyone would. Which is exactly why he had become part of Phil’s plan.

 

PJ was going to take Dan to his house. He was going to let him have a room, his girlfriend was going to enchant it so he couldn’t leave, and then when Phil’s parents were gone… Dan could come back. 

There was a lot to work out after Dan came back, Phil knew that, but he’d deal with that later. Right now, he just needed to meet PJ. He typed out a short reply before pocketing his phone, picking Dan up bridal style.

 

**_Phil: Meet you in 20._ **

**_PJ: Glad to see ur not KOed. OTW._ **

 

Glancing down at Dan, Phil couldn’t help but think of how bad a plan this was. He hadn’t explained the severity of the situation to Dan. He’d just said that his parents “were looking for him”. It was far more than that. It was more than Phil probably even realized. The guilt lay heavy on his heart as he slipped out the front door, laying Dan across the backseat of his car.

He’d have time be guilty later, now he needed to go.


	10. Chapter 10

Dan woke with a start, tumbling out of the bed and landing on the floor in a mess of pink bedsheets and decorative pillows. There was a faint hum of magic in the air. It was oddly soothing and worrying at the same time, sending a burst of questions through his mind. The first of which being, where the hell was he?

 

Untangling himself from the sheet, Dan sat up and took in the room. It was small. The walls were painted a light shade of grey, but there was nothing on them. Not a single painting, picture frame, nothing. The only picture he saw in the whole room sat on the desk in a silver frame. It was a girl and a dog, clearly a candid shot. It sat next to a clock, which red digits were blinking - 9:42 PM.

 

A familiar sense of panic was starting to bubble in the pit of his stomach. How did he get here? Why was he here? And why couldn’t he remember?

 

It felt like the whole last month was fuzzy. The feeling was comparable to looking out the window of a moving train. Everything was flashing by in a blur, indistinguishable, but little bits and pieces were still there. The last real thing he had a vivid memory of was some random day with Phil in his shop; One of his increasingly ridiculous encounters tumbling from his lips with Susan curled atop Dan’s counter. It was a day that didn’t really matter, but right now it was the only thing Dan had to cling to.

 

The sound of voices snapped Dan out of his head. They were distant, loud enough to hear but not close enough to make out what they were saying. As he edged his way to the door in an attempt to listen, his body suddenly collided with… nothing?

He staggered back, almost tripping over the blankets that lay on the floor again. He understood the magic he felt now. An invisible barrier rounded the room, clearly cast by an enchantment. There was no stifling the groan that left his lips as he slumped down to the floor. Enchantments were not his area of expertise. He’d never once had to even deal with one. In other words, he was **_screwed._**

 

As worrying as the whole situation was, Dan was unsure what exactly he was supposed to be worried about. Obviously the fact he was trapped in some stranger’s room. But why? This wasn’t random and he felt like he should know. But, he didn’t. That was frustrating him most of all.

 

* * *

 

Dan was pacing when the door finally opened. The girl from the picture stood just behind the barrier, her eyebrows raised at the panicked look on Dan’s face.

 

“Calm down.” She laughed nervously. Dan could feel the magic surrounding the barrier wavering as she stepped inside. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

 

“Who are you? Why am I even here?”

 

Catching her bottom lip between her teeth, she hesitated. Her eyes darted between the door and Dan a few times before she began to back out the door.

 

“I’m sorry. I really don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you… So hold on.”

 

Before Dan had any chance to argue, she was gone and her footsteps were receding down the hallway. He honestly could cry. It wasn’t even out of fear anymore. His general ignorance of what was happening was about to drive him insane. It reminded him of the feeling of having a word caught on the tip of his tongue. It was close, almost reachable. But, he couldn’t quite grasp it.

 

* * *

 

 

The door swung open again, the girl from before replaced with a tall, curly haired guy. A flannel hung loosely around his waist, glasses propped on top of his head. He looked like he had just woken up. Maybe he had.

 

“Right, so, you’re probably mad.” He started, edging into the room and sitting on the side of the bed, “But hear me out, okay? Phil had a good reason behind this whole thing.”

 

The blank stare that fell across Dan’s face only seemed to prompt the man to keep talking. Dan quickly learned his name was PJ and that he was in the guest bedroom of his house. The girl who had been in the room earlier was his girlfriend, Sophie. She was who enchanted the room.

 

“But, why?” Dan asked, clearly perplexed by the situation. “Why am I even here and what does any of this have to do with Phil?”

 

“It has to do more with his parents than Phil. He was just worried you weren’t going to leave after he warned you. I think he was a little impulsive, but I mean, what could I do? Ya know?”

 

PJ shifted on the bed, his gaze drifted out the door to where Sophie was standing. She kept looking between the two of them, cautiously assessing the situation, before PJ shook his head and she walked away.

 

“She was worried you were going to freak out and attack me or something.”

 

“Why would I attack either of you? ” The whine in Dan’s tone was evident and he didn’t even care at this point. He leaned against the desk, letting his body slip to the floor once again.

 

“You’re not mad?” PJ asked.

 

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be mad about.”

 

An awkward silence fell over the room. It was tense, filled with unspoken words and confusion. PJ looked uncomfortable. Chewing on the bottom of his lip, he finally opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted before he could get a word out.

 

“He doesn’t know what’s happening because Phil fucked something up.”

 

Both Dan and PJ’s head snapped to the doorway to where Sophie leaned against the wall. She looked lost in thought, her eyes flickering across the room in the same way Dan’s did when he got too caught up in his head. With a sigh, her gaze finally settled on Dan.

 

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

 

Dan hesitated, letting his eyes fall closed. Everything was static, bits and pieces of the past week (or maybe it was a month..) occasionally flashed through his head. It was mainly Phil. Just Phil and Susan, domestic dinners, and early morning coffees. Nothing that seemed relevant to what was happening. Besides, he couldn’t even place the timing of any of it.

 

“Phil.” He shrugged. “Just Phil and his stupid cat and nothing I can put a finger on to tell you when it happened.”

 

“Okay, don’t freak out.” PJ started. “But, here’s the deal…”

 

* * *

 

Dan was freaking out.

 

Thirty minutes later, after a lot of questions and confusion on Dan’s part, he finally understood the situation. The anger PJ and Sophie were worried about had finally hit him like a wave. They both stood outside the enchantment, watching as Dan paced around the small bedroom. His hands were entangled in his hair, practically pulling his curls straight, while he was mumbling under his breath.

 

“Let me leave.” He finally stated, his voice low and laced with every bit of annoyance he felt.

 

“I promised I wouldn’t.”

 

PJ almost looked like he felt bad; Guilt was practically written all over his face, getting stronger the more emotional Dan seemed to get. It was enough for Dan to begin making a plan to persuade him. He was the weaker link of the two. Sophie looked like she genuinely wasn’t invested in this at all. The only ounce of concern she was displaying was directed towards PJ. Dan didn’t miss the soft touches she was placing on his arm, tracing patterns against his skin to calm his nerves, just like Phil used to do to him.   

 

He could work with that. Being manipulative wasn't his favorite thing to do, but in certain situations, Dan was quite good at it. He attributed that to those few years he ran around trying to avenge his mother. At least that was one good thing came out of it, he supposed.

 

Dan narrowed his eyes, looking from the floor back to PJ, painting the most upset look he could muster across his face (which truthfully wasn’t hard considering the circumstances).

 

“I want to be alone.” He mumbled, turning away from the two.

 

 

PJ breathed out loudly, clearly stopping himself from saying something. Dan cast one last glance over his shoulder. Sophie had already walked away, but PJ lingered. He muttered a quiet 'M'sorry' before disappearing down the hallway.

 

* * *

 

Dan lay back against the bed, pulling one of the pillows over his face. He was going to get out of this room and he was going to do it soon. Whether he went back to his shop or not was debatable. If Phil's parents really were going to kill him, Dan obviously wasn't going to waltz right back down the street... Was he? There was something in the back of his mind that was telling him he **needed** to go back, that he was forgetting something that PJ and Sophie had no idea about.

He may not know many things right now, the blur of the last month of his life and the past 24 hours of confusion confirmed that, but, he did know that whatever he was forgetting was important and he needed to remember whatever it was _now._

 


	11. Chapter 11

_PJ: Call me_

  
_PJ: Soon >.<_

 

Phil’s phone lit up in his hands, the vibration loud enough to put a halt to the sentence his mother was in the middle of. Her eyes narrowed disapprovingly, a quiet ‘hmph’ leaving her lips, before she continued.

They had only been there an hour and Phil was ready to run into traffic and now his mind was reeling with thoughts of what could have gone wrong on the other side of town with Dan.

 

* * *

 

As most visits did, it started badly.

 

From the moment his parents stepped through the door, bell chiming as they entered, both his mother and father were glancing around condescendingly. His mother practically kicked Susan out of her way, the toe of her shoe colliding with the cat ‘accidentally’, earning an angry hiss from the cat (and almost from Phil too). She didn’t utter any form of apology before wandering around the room. Her fingers traced over book spines, steps halting in front of the few pieces of art he had on the wall - each time moving on with a slight shake of the head. Her passive aggressive insults stuck to Phil’s mind like glue and he mentally scolded himself for allowing her words to get to him.

 

His father, silent as ever, loomed next to him. His expression hard, arms folded across his chest. Other than a brief hello, he hadn’t spoken a word. It was his parent’s usual dynamic.

 

After his mother’s inspection, which Phil had abruptly stopped the moment her shoe hit the first stair that led up to his bedroom, he managed to get them both to sit at one of the tables. They murmured between themselves, casting short glances in Phil’s direction while he made them both a cup of tea. Who know what they were saying. Judging by their expressions, it wasn’t good.

 

_Shocker._

 

“So…”

 

Phil didn’t know what to say as he placed the teacups on the table, sitting down in the chair across from them. He felt like he was in primary school again and he was about to get scolded. A slap on the wrist for bad behavior. His parents’ sudden silence was not helping his nerves.

 

His mother took a small sip of the tea, her eyes never leaving Phil over the rim of the cup.

“I don’t understand you, Philip. We sent you here to find that Howell boy and nothing else. The coffeeshop, bookstore, whatever this mess is, was not supposed to be permanent.”

 

Here it goes. Phil could hardly stop himself from shrinking back in the chair, stammering for an explanation.

 

“He- He hasn’t shown up! It’s clearly a witch shop across the street. I thought I’d just wait it out!”

 

That seemed reasonable enough.

His mother clearly didn’t think so.

 

“I don’t care! You were supposed to-“

 

A series of abrupt vibrations started from Phil’s pocket. He fumbled to grab his phone, silencing it the minute his fingers touched the side. His mother’s glare was stern.

 

“Are we interrupting something?” She practically hissed. In the blink of an eye, she had plucked the phone from Phil’s hand and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket.

 

_‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’_ was all that was going through Phil’s mind. He wasn’t sure if he had put the passcode back on his phone. She definitely couldn’t go through that at all or he (and Dan) were screwed. The palms of his hands were clammy, and unbeknownst to him, his knee had started bouncing up and down, shaking the table.

 

“Are you even listening to your mother?” His father snapped, causing Phil to nearly jump out of his chair.

 

The tension in the air was thick. Phil was sure he would choke on it if it were a real substance. His parents were both staring him down, causing him to squirm in his seat. They knew he was hiding something. They always knew.

 

“We try to be reasonable. We try to be fair. This was an easy task. The moment you realized the shop was abandoned, you should have come back to us. I don’t see why you’re so certain he’s going to show up if no one has set foot over there since you arrived… Like you’ve told us.”

 

It felt like the walls were closing in on him. His parents were staring at him, expectantly waiting for him to crack under their gaze. To admit he was lying, like he was so sure they knew. To disappoint them again.

 

“I-“

 

He started but didn’t get a chance to speak. His mother cut him off, shoving her index finger over his lips. Neither she nor his father seemed interested in him anymore, they were both staring out the window. Their eyes narrowed like a predator who had just spotted their pray, ready to pounce at any second.

 

“Who is that?”

 

Phil turned his head, moving his mother’s hand away from his mouth. He was expecting to see someone walking down the street. A random passerby. Someone his parents would claim was a witch before going off on an hour long rant about it.

 

What he didn’t expect to see what someone turning the handle of Dan’s shop and disappearing inside.

 

Someone who was very much not Dan.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have another chapter for tomorrow tooo. ;)

Eight hours was all it took for Dan to get out of the room – excluding how long he’d been knocked out on the bed before that. He was correct to assume that PJ would be the one with the guiltier conscience, but he hadn’t expected Sophie to be the one to actually break at all.

 

The clock on the table was blinking 2:23 AM when she had come in, nudging Dan awake from his slumber. He’d been so startled he nearly punched her in the face.

 

“What the _fuck_ are you doing?”

 

His brain wasn’t fully awake, clearly wasn’t thinking straight. Sophie had only looked at him with a sympathetic smile. Her hair was pulled in a low bun, strands falling out the sides and resting on the shoulders of her grey t-shirt. She looked like she was about to go to sleep or had just woken up. Dan couldn’t tell.

 

“Hush. I’m doing you a favor.”

 

“Why?” Dan asked, incredulously. Surely she was getting something out of this. “What kind of favor?”

 

“Does it matter?”

 

“Yes.”

 

She sighed, moving to run a hand through her hair only to stop before she reached her forehead. Her fingers dropped to fidget with a silver bracelet around her wrist.

 

“I need to let you out of the house. You’re making PJ sad.”

 

It was like a lightbulb had gone off in Dan’s head. This wasn’t about him at all – not that it mattered. She was just upset that Dan’s sulking and general presence was wearing on PJ’s mental state which was exactly what he had been going for in the first place. This wasn’t exactly how he’d seen the plan playing out, but he’d take it.

 

“Honestly? I don’t really care. PJ is the one who made the deal with Phil, not me… Technically.”

 

And just like that, she’d let the enchantment fall and ushered Dan down the hallway, out the front door, and into their yard… at almost 3 o’clock in the morning and who knows how far from his and Phil’s street.

 

Dan supposed it was somewhat of a mixed blessing. He could deal with a long night time stroll if it meant he wasn’t trapped in that house. He started walking down the street, hoping that he was actually going the right direction.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun had barely started to rise when Dan’s shoes hit the pavement of his street. He’d spent too much time walking in the wrong direction before he realized he needed to turn around and go the other way. His legs were sore, his head hurt, and he really just wanted to crash into his bed and go to sleep.

 

He found his steps wavering, however, once he hit the turn towards his shop. His eyes flickered to Phil’s. All the lights were off except for the one in Phil’s bedroom. It was late – or early, depending on how he looked at it – Why was he awake?

 

A pang of longing hit Dan square in the chest. He _missed_ Phil. It had only been a few days, but it was taking everything in Dan’s willpower to not barge right in his front door and kiss him right on the lips. He wanted to sleep with him ( _innocently and maybe not so innocently too_ ). He wanted to just coexist in the same space like they had been nearly every day since Phil crashed into his life. Phil’s presence had become so ingrained in his life that it was weird not to be near him.

 

But he couldn’t do that and he shouldn’t want that.

 

In reality, Phil had drugged him. He had gotten someone to kidnap him and hold him hostage. Whether his intentions were pure or not, it still happened and it wasn’t something Dan was sure he could look past. But where he should feel anger, he was only sad. He was sad that this may be what ruined their entire relationship, whatever it was. It was generally just fucked that the one person he’d managed to connect to on this level had done something like that. It seemed just like the kind of thing that would happen to Dan though, so he couldn’t say he was surprised.

 

On top of his conflicting emotions about Phil, Dan still had gaps in his memory. Holes that needed to filled, things he _knew_ he needed to remember – but, he couldn’t. There was the whole issue with Phil’s parents. That’s what had caused this whole thing, but PJ had only skimmed over the topic. Had Phil given him more detail? Detail that warranted his actions? Secondly, there was still a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he was forgetting something so important. He could feel the urgency, the anxiety, the stress burning in his chest, but he didn’t know what it was for.

 

He had been standing on the street corner for too long, staring at Phil’s window. The light clicked off and Phil’s room fell dark snapping Dan’s mind back to reality. Mixing in with his general sadness came a feeling of fear. It wasn’t one that Dan was particularly fond of. There was something off, the air around him felt charged and static. It was familiar. But it still worried him.

 

When he got to the door of his shop, he was surprised to find it unlocked. Not that he would remember if Phil locked it or not. The last time he went out the door he wasn’t even conscious. It just seemed very un-Phil like to not lock the door. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. He pushed it open and immediately tripped over a mass on the floor.

 

“ _Fuck!”_

 

As he was stumbling forwards, a high pitched wail filled the room, followed quickly by a hiss, which was immediately followed by the feeling of claws swiping across his leg. The stupid cat. He’d stepped on the cat. Dan groaned as he finally regained his balance, eyes narrowing towards Susan on the floor.

 

“What are you even doing here? Go away. Shoo…”

 

Susan just tipped her head, circling Dan’s legs with a quiet purr. He sighed, placing his hand on the top of her head. She wasn’t Phil, but she was part of Phil. Dan could settle with that for now. Susan nudged his hand and Dan suddenly had the overwhelming desire to burst into tears. But the feeling was quickly gone when a shock shot through his arm.

 

“Ow, what the fuck now!”

 

He yanked his hand back as if he’d been burned, surprised to find Susan looking equally alarmed. Could even cats look alarmed? The static was so familiar to what he felt on the street. It was like the air in his shop was charged with an excess amount of electricity.  The feeling was getting stronger and it was making Dan uneasy. He turned to the stairs and nearly fell out on the floor when he saw someone else already standing there.

 

“Sorry. My magic is kind of going a little haywire right now.”

 

He stood there with his mouth hanging open. If it weren’t for the Howell’s signature brown curls that draped around her face, Dan probably wouldn’t have recognized her at all.

 

“Julie, what the hell are you even doing here? How’d you even find me?”

 

Dan watched her expression fall blank before morphing into confusion. 

 

"You told me your address and said I could come." She looked at him skeptically.  "Are you, like, okay?"

 

They stared at each other in complete silence for what felt like forever before Dan shook his head. He couldn't help it. He was definitely not okay. Julie's face fell, a frown far too similar to ones he'd seen in the past crossing over her lips. She reached out to place a hand on his arm, but before it even made contact with the fabric of his hoodie, there was a pulse of static that resulted in them both jerking away with a loud 'fuck!'

 

"Why is that happening? Why are you here? Not that I don't want you to be, but..."

 

Dan's fingers had entangled themselves into his hair, tugging at harshly. He was overwhelmed. The past week had been way too much for him. His scheduled days had gone out the window, all the work he'd gone into making sure his life was organized and put together completely gone. He could feel himself spiraling.

 

"Dan... Breathe, okay? You're going to have a panic attack if you don't."

 

Breathing seemed like the last thing in the world his body wanted to do, but he forced himself to anyway. Julie was unsurprisingly good at handling this even after years of being apart. She was quietly coaching his through the process of calming down and even though Dan couldn't express it outloud, he was grateful. It wasn't the first time she'd had to deal with it and with the way things were going, it wouldn't be the last. 

 

"You good?"

 

Dan felt himself nodding and Julie looked relieved. She bit her bottom lip before sliding to sit on the floor.

 

"Where were you? I was worried when the shop looked like this and you weren't here."

 

She motioned to the jars all over the floor, the mess he'd left behind when Phil had taken him to PJ's. This whole conversation was just question after question with no answers. They both sighed at the same time and then Dan explained everything. Well, almost everything. He left out some details about Phil that a little sister probably didn't want to know, but the things he thought were relevant were there. By the time he was done, he had tears running down his cheeks and Julie looked madder than he'd ever seen her.

 

"Are you serious? What the heck? What kind of person does that?" 

 

She had stood up, pacing around the jars on the floor. Her footsteps echoed around the room and Susan was following her on the shelves - Dan felt a wave of nostalgia rush over him but he quickly pushed it away. He couldn't help but watch her. He knew it wasn't the right time, but he couldn't help but notice how much she had grown over the years. How much she had matured. It almost hurt to know he missed all of it. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he sighed again.

 

"It doesn't matter, Jules. I just need to deal with what's happening now. I'll worry about Phil later."

 

Julie was staring at him, clearly about to argue before clamping her mouth shut with an indignant huff.

 

"Fine. If you don't want to talk about your problems, we can talk about mine. Which are still yours too, actually. So... Sorry."

 

"S'fine. Just go on."

 

Dan could already tell it was going to be a long day.


	13. Chapter 13

Dan was across the street.

 

Holy shit. He was across the street. He was in his shop with whoever that random person is and Phil’s parents would be back any second to investigate. Why was he here? Why was he even awake?

 

_**Phil: Wtf!** _   
_**PJ: …** _   
_**Phil: How could you let him leave?** _   
_**PJ: Srry… :(** _

__

Phil threw his phone in frustration. It bounced off his bed and into the wall, falling to the floor with a sound that he knew meant there was going to be a crack. But he didn’t care. This wasn’t supposed to be happening! PJ had promised!

 

Now Dan was definitely in danger and there was nothing Phil could do about it. He couldn’t just walk across the street and talk to him.

 

_‘Hey, sorry I made the one potion you told me not to make and then used it on you and kept you locked in my friend’s house. And, I know you just got back but you need to leave again, my bad.’_

 

Yeah, that would go over _great._ Plus, his parents would see him and know something was up. They’d follow him. They’d _know_.

 

They were already on high alert after they saw that girl go inside. Who she was and why she was there, Phil had no idea. He explained to his parents that he’d never seen her before in his life to which they looked skeptical, but surprisingly didn’t argue. His mom practically glued herself to the window while his father paced around the room, silently waiting for something to happen.

 

It was just making Phil’s anxiety spike. Even after they had left, making Phil promise to stay up and keep an eye on things, he still found the panic brewing in his chest. He knew his parents were deep into the anti-witch scene, but he didn’t realize the extent until right before they left the night before.

* * *

 

 

_Phil finally managed to slip into the kitchen, escaping his parent’s craziness long enough to catch his breath. Ever since that girl showed up, they’d been ridiculous. Grilling Phil about who she was, why she was there, asking questions he didn’t have the answer to. They were growing annoyed with his lack of information, but there was also a sense of excitement in their tone. The bad kind of excitement. The kind of excitement that made a chill shoot down Phil’s spine and worry for Dan spike in his heart._

 

_He could barely hear them talking, their hushed whispers floating under the door._

 

_“Would she die without it?” Her father asked, tone deep and sullen.  
_

 

_“I think so. I hope so. That was the plan, wasn’t it? She’s not the right one, but she’s one of them. It’s good enough for me.”_

 

_Phil felt his breath catch, gripping the countertop so hard his knuckles were turning white. His parents were talking about killing someone so casually in the middle of his shop. Like, it was an everyday thing for them._

 

_What if it **was** an everyday thing for them? _

 

_He felt sick as he stepped back into the room, his parents conversation screeching to a halt before he even had a chance to close the door behind him. They knew he wouldn’t be okay with it. He was barely okay with the original plan. Dan’s plan._

 

* * *

 

 

Now, he was pacing. He’d being doing a lot of that lately.

 

His gaze was locked out the window onto the door of Dan’s shop, waiting for any sign of movement. Any sign that someone was coming or going. Anything.

 

He wasn’t sure if it was good or bad that he was getting nothing. The curtains had remained drawn, the lights stayed off. There was no noise, no shadows against the shades, nothing. If he hadn’t of seen both Dan and that girl go in there, Phil wouldn’t have had any idea there was someone there at all.

 

It pained him to think that Dan could have been safe if that girl hadn’t of shown up when she did. To be fair, he would have been safer if Phil never showed up in the first place, but he didn’t want to take the blame right now. He wanted to direct his emotions onto someone else.

 

He sighed as he bent over to pick up his phone, frowning at the long crack that ran down the middle. When he finally looked back up, the door to Dan’s shop was closing and Susan was trotting across the street. He hadn’t even noticed she was gone. Phil couldn’t keep his eyes off the shop as he went to open his door, letting Susan inside. The curtain to the Dan’s front window shifted, a tiny slit to the side, and Phil squinted his eyes at it.

 

It felt like hours before the curtain fell shut. In reality, it hadn’t even been a minute, but somehow Phil knew it was Dan.

 

**_Phil: You need to leave again. Please.  
_**_-read._  
**Phil: Dan, don’t be stubborn right now.**  
-read.  
**Phil: I wouldn’t be telling you to go if it wasn’t an emergency.**  
-read.

 

A sense of reckless desire washed over Phil the moment he saw his texts were read. His parents would be back within the hour, but he didn’t care right now. The inane need to protect Dan from all this had washed over him and he couldn’t ignore it any more.

 

So, he did the least logical thing possible and went across the street. The door to Dan’s shop was locked, obviously, but Phil had a key. He hesitated before turning it and stepping inside. He barely had one foot in the door before someone was yelling at him.

 

“Get out. We don’t want you to be here.”

 

It was the girl he’d seen before. She was glaring daggers in his direction, hands on her hips in a way that reminded him of Dan. In fact, everything about her reminded him of Dan. The way she held herself, her hair, her facial features, even the pronounced way she spoke. Phil opened his mouth to talk, an apology on the tip of his tongue, before Dan cut in.

Phil hadn’t even noticed him sitting on the steps. The girl had been standing in front of him so protectively that all of Phil’s attention had been on her.

 

“Julie, it’s fine. I’m too tired to deal with anything else today.” Phil watched as Dan stood up. He looked stiff, stressed, and judging from the bags under his eyes, too tired to argue against Phil’s presence. He sighed, speaking to Phil in a voice that lacked any emotion whatsoever. “Hi Phil.”

 

Phil blinked, pushing away the guilt and any other emotion he was feeling right now. There wasn’t any time to dwell on the fact Dan had just said his name like it was just another household object. He couldn’t focus on the fact that he looked and was acting the way he was because of Phil himself. Right now, he just needed to get straight to the point before it was too late.

 

“You need to leave. Both of you.”

 

The girl, Julie, chimed in before Dan even had a chance to part his lips.

“We don't have to listen to you, but that's our plan. We would have left like 10 minutes ago if _you_ didn’t show up.”

 

“Who even are you? I didn’t come here to talk to you at all, I came here for him.” Phil blurted out, annoyance dripping from his tone. He wished he could take it back, but it was already spoken.

 

Julie rolled her eyes, before they eventually settled on Phil with a glare so strong that he almost flinched away.

 

“I’m his sister.”

 

_‘She’s not the right one, but she’s one of them’._ His mother’s words flashed through his mind as soon as the dots connected. He could feel the color draining out of his already pale face and when he looked up, Dan was already looking back at him with his eyebrows furrowed, arms folding across his chest. Amidst the annoyance, there was a hint of concern.

 

“What’s wrong?” He asked, softly.

 

“My parents are going to kill you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the next few chapters written out. Things are going to pick up again soon. ;)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! my laptop broke. I'm posting two chapters tonight to make up for it :)

Julie and Dan had looked less surprised than Phil anticipated. For some reason, he had pictured this being an emotionally charged moment. But instead, they both shrugged.

 

“Yeah, after Dan kind of explained everything he could remember that’s what we assumed.”

 

“Everything he remembered?” Phil tipped his head. It wasn’t like Dan to forget something like that, something so important. When he turned to look towards him, Dan was staring at the floor. His hair hung down, shielding his face from Phil’s view.

 

“Sleeping potions are hard to make right, Phil. They mess with the mind, afterall.” was all he said, barely even glancing up at the words left his lips.

 

Julie took this moment to shoot another glare in his direction. Phil was getting tired of that real fast. He opened his mouth to question this further, but Dan unexpectedly cut in before he got the chance.

 

“That’s not important right now. You need to tell us everything you know about what their plan is or their intentions. _Everything._ ”

 

So, he did. He started from the beginning. The original plan. _Dan’s plan_.

 

“I don’t know as much as you probably think I do. All I know is, it has something to do with your mother.” Julie shot Dan a glance that Phil couldn’t understand, so he ignored it. “They wanted you – Dan -  because of the ‘bloodline.’ They didn’t tell me much though! I promise! They just told me I needed to get you to trust me and they’d handle the rest.”

 

Dan and Julie shared another glance, having a silent conversation via their eyes.

 

“Okay, so what about me?” Julie asked. “Did those guys who came after me a while back have anything to do with your parents?”

 

“I don’t know.” Phil answered honestly. “They didn’t even say anything about you until they saw you come in here. Then they just said you ‘weren’t the right one, but it was fine’ and if they took something away from you, you’d die.”

 

At this, Dan’s head shot up. His eyes were blown with panic that Phil wanted to go away immediately. Pushing himself off the wall, he began to walk around the room.

 

“God, this is bad.” He muttered. Julie just nodded.

 

“Yeah, Dan. Thanks for pointing out the obvious.”

 

He shot his sister an annoyed glance, stepping over the jars on the floor. Phil wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do in this situation. He’d originally just come over here to tell them to leave, but now that he was here? He was having a hard time finding the willpower to leave Dan again. He looked so stressed that he almost looked older. All Phil could think was that it was his fault.

 

“Phil,” Dan stopped walking, looking him square in the eye for the first time since he walked through the door. “Remember when I told you that some people were born with magic in them – from families or just genetic luck – and some people, like you, learn it?”

 

Phil nodded.

 

“Obviously, Julie and I both fall in that first category. We still had to learn magic, but we had the genetics that made us naturally inclined to it. Anyway, I’m not going to go on about that right now, I’ll just cut to it. Magic is a gift, not a right. It can be taken away. Which is fine… For people like you, who learned it.”

 

“But for people who are born with it?” Phil asked, hesitantly. He wasn’t stupid, he knew where this was going. But, he was praying that he was wrong.

 

“We need it to survive. It’s a blessing and a curse.”

 

Julie cut in, “So, born witches have bloodlines. The Howell’s runs deep throughout the magic community. Our family has done magic since way before me and Dan were even a thought. It’s a big target right on our backs for people like your parents.”

 

“Get rid of the bloodline, you get rid of a lot of natural magic. It’s a long process, but it’s not impossible.”

 

Phil inhaled, his breath catching. This wasn’t surprising, honestly. He didn’t know all the details of it, but the general idea of the situation was what he had expected. It was just overwhelming to hear it outloud so bluntly. There was a soft pressure on his arm and he nearly jolted back before he realized it was just Dan. His fingers had curled gently around his bicep, a quick touch of reassurance, before he pulled his hand away.

 

Phil ignored the look of annoyance on Julie’s face and relished in the fact that maybe, possibly, Dan wasn’t going to hate him entirely after this whole thing.

 

“Okay, so here’s what we need to do.”

 

* * *

 

 

Phil was back on the couch of his coffeeshop, Susan curled at his feet. His parents still hadn’t shown back up and it had been about an hour since he’d returned from Dan’s. It struck a tone of concern, not for his parents’ wellbeing but for what they could possibly be doing.

 

Dan and Julie had decided on leaving. That had been their intentions all along. That’s why Dan was so hesitant to leave in the first place. He was waiting for her. He just never got the chance to tell Phil because he used that stupid sleeping potion on him immediately after she had called.

_‘Talking would have solved a lot of problems, Phil. But we don’t have time for it now.’_

 

That was the last thing Dan had said before kissing him abruptly on the lips and shoving him back out the door. To say he was having mixed feelings was an understatement. But just like the talking, he didn’t have time for it now.

 

Phil needed to distract his parents. He had made up some elaborate lie about ‘the girl across the street.’ It should be enough to grab his parent’s attention and steer them the wrong direction, giving Dan and his sister time to leave without being noticed.

 

Problem was? His parents hadn’t shown back up and he had no idea when they would. So until they decided to make their grand appearance, Dan and Julie were stuck across the street. He found his fingers rapping against the table, thrumming along to the silence that hung heavy in the air. It was really starting to wear him down mentally.

 

It was only when he had stood to go make a coffee, something to keep his hands and mind busy, did the bell on his door ring. The sound pierced through the air and set Phil on high alert. He needed to shake off his nerves or his parents would see right through his lies. He turned, mug in hand, only to see his father standing near the counter.

 

“Where’s mom?” He asked, setting the cup down on the counter with a small clink. He heard the shake in his voice and prayed that his father didn’t notice.

 

“Busy.”

 

“Busy with what?”

 

Phil’s father didn’t answer that. He turned away from Phil, hooking his jacket on the rack by the door, and took the seat nearest the window. His eyes were glued to Dan’s shop across the street – just like they had been since the moment they arrived.

 

“So, the girl across the street…” Phil started, hoping to catch his father’s attention. He only got a dismissive grunt as a response. “I watched like you guys told me to and she’s definitely a witch. I –“

 

“Give it up, Philip. You’ve never been a good liar.”

 

With that, Phil could feel the color draining from his face. He’d already messed the whole thing up and it hadn’t even been five minutes. His father pushed his chair back, the legs screeching across the floor so loudly that Susan didn’t hesitate to bolt out of the room. There was a beat of silence before he turned, his eyes not hesitating to meet Phil’s in the iciest stare he’d ever received.

 

“Your mother isn’t happy with your disobedience either.”

 

“I – I didn’t do anything.”

 

He watched as his father rose, the heels of his shoes thudding against the wooden floor as he walked towards the door. For a moment, Phil panicked, sure that he was about to go straight across the street. But he didn’t.

 

What he did made Phil panic for another reason.

 

His father twisted the lock on the door, securing it from the inside. Despite his back being to Phil, he was still watching him in the reflection of the window. A long, pensive sigh left his lips.

 

“That’s the problem, Philip. You _didn’t_ do anything. Or you did, rather. But you didn’t do the right thing.”

 

If Phil wasn’t freaking out before, he sure as hell was now.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Your mother was unsure about sending you here in the first place. She knew you had a soft spot. She claimed you weren’t ever on the same page as we were. Did you really think she was so willing to give you a job like this without any surveillance?”

 

“You’ve been watching me?” Phil somehow managed to squeak the words out. He felt like his shoes were glued to the floor and the ground beneath him was going to crumble at any second – swallowing him whole. How could he have been so stupid? Everything in him should have known this was a possibility from the start and he’d blindly ignored that just because he fell for the witch across the street.

 

“Don’t sound so offended. It seems we were right to do so. You always did let your feelings get in the way. Even when you were younger, you always –“

 

The default iPhone ringer pierced through the air, vibrating against the acrylic table top his father had been seated at previously. Both of their eyes fell to the phone, raising to meet again, before his father slipped it off the table and put it to his ear.

 

“Yes?”

 

The silence that fell after he spoke was almost suffocating. Occasional muffled words from the other end of the phone drifted through the air, but they were so unintelligible that Phil didn’t bother trying to make them out. He was focused on reading his father’s expression. For once, the stone faced man he’d grown up with seemed to almost crack a smile. His eyes narrowed, one eyebrow raised, and he turned on his heels to look across the street.

 

“He’s with me.”

 

The ice in his tone sent a chill throughout Phil’s body, causing his breath to catch in his throat. He liked to believe that his parents, despite their poor morals and general issues, wouldn’t hurt _him_. He knew they would hurt other people, but they wouldn’t hurt their own son. But now? With the way his father just spoke, turning his head and staring holes through Phil’s skull, he wasn’t so sure.

 

Subconsciously, he stepped away. His back hit the counter and he slipped his hands to edge for leverage. Passing out right now would not be good but with the way his head was spinning and the anxiety crawling over his body, it wasn’t that far off.

 

His father nodded, humming noncommittally into the phone. Phil watched as his fingers delicately twirled the string holding the blinds up between them, giving it one harsh tug and letting the slats fall to cover the windows.  Phil could feel the beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead. This was nowhere close to how he thought this would go – even if he did get caught lying.

 

His father spoke softly into the phone, something along the lines of ‘try to hurry up’ and ‘we won’t be leaving’ before hanging up and turning on his heels to face Phil. There was a long period of time where neither of them spoke, their gazes just held as if to see who would break first.

 

Unsurprisingly, it was Phil.

“What are you doing? What is the point in all this?”

 

“Oh, Philip. You already know.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter I posted tonight. It gets graphic enough that I feel like I should warn anyone who might not like that.

The shop was overtaken by an eerie silence the moment Phil had walked out the door and back to his shop. Dan had watched him the whole way, peeking towards the street from behind his curtain. Their kiss lingered on his  lips as his mind flooded with so many thoughts he could barely distinguish one from another. For all he knew it could have been his last chance to kiss him. He _loved_ him. It didn’t seem completely irrational to him, but judging by the look on Julie’s face when he turned around, it was.

 

 

“What was that? Why did you kiss him?”

 

“Jules, not now, please. Okay?” Dan groaned, avoiding her gaze. It was strange that despite the short amount of time they had been reunited, they had already fallen into their role as siblings quite well. It was like they hadn’t spent any time apart. Except they had and it had ripped their relationship in half. If they got out of this, Dan vowed to himself he would fix it. A reluctantly annoyed sigh left Julie’s lips, dejectedly dropping the conversation for now.

 

“Do we need anything from here or can we just go? Where are we even going?”

 

The thought of going back to PJ’s had crossed his mind, but for obvious reasons, he felt like that was a bad idea. In the end, he had decided they were just going to go and figure it out on the way. It wasn’t like him to be so reckless, to not have a plan. But there was no way to plan for this and if he dwelled on it any longer, he’d end up having another panic attack.

 

“Just look around and grab anything that looks useful. I don’t know what we’ll need but it’s better safe than sorry.”  Dodging her question, Dan turned towards the stairs.  “I’m going to check my room.”

 

His foot had barely hit the second step before Julie was calling him back.

 

“Dan? Do you really think we can trust him?”

 

Julie looked nervous, which was understandable, but it made Dan feel terrible all the same. He nodded with no hesitation before turning back up the stairs.

 

* * *

 

 

Phil was supposed to text when they could leave. Dan had his phone in his hand, waiting, as he sat on the edge of his bed. His eyes drifted around what once was a perfectly organized oasis for him. Now it was a mess, just like the whole downstairs of his shop.

 

_Phil._

 

He’d like to sit here and blame the whole thing on Phil. It would be easy to just cast it off on him. But, in reality, this would have happened with or without Phil around. He was a witch before Phil showed up and Julie had gotten attacked before Phil showed up. It wasn’t him. He was just a pawn in a much bigger picture.

 

Dan sighed, turning his phone over in his hands repetitively. There was no sense in sitting around and moping about it right now. Just like he had told Phil, they didn’t have time for anything except surviving. The backpack that hung on the back of his door was empty, but Dan was quick to start shoving things inside. From his cell phone charger to the emergency cash he kept under his bed, anything and everything that would be helpful no matter where they ended up. He cursed himself mentally for not having many potions prepared. He’d have to make do on the way.

 

It was worrying that he hadn’t heard from Phil yet. Half of him wanted to just text him and ask what was going on, but that was the worst idea and he knew it. Slinging the backpack over his shoulder, Dan headed to the top of the stairs, giving his bedroom one last look goodbye.

 

* * *

 

 

It didn’t take him long after he left his room to realize something was wrong. There was something in the air, and not just the static from Julie’s magic. He could feel it before he was even halfway down the stairs and it sent his heart into an erratic frenzy of nerves. He was just being paranoid, right? That’s what he was telling himself with every step he took, but the silence was slowly shifting to a low voice that definitely didn’t belong to his sister and there was a sliver of light filtering in from the door that had previously been shut. Dan knew he wasn’t being paranoid.

 

Hesitating at the last final steps, Dan craned his head around the corner to try and see what was going on. Regret hit him like a ton of bricks the moment he did. It felt like someone had physically punched him straight in the stomach, knocking the breath right out of his lungs. He staggered backwards, tripping over the step behind him which sent him stumbling straight into the room, crashing into a line of jars on the floor.

 

Across the room, a woman and a younger man’s head whipped up. Their eyes narrowed in Dan’s direction before they let their expression fall. The casual disposition they had was doing nothing to ease Dan’s nerves – especially considering the grip the man had around Julie’s arm and the knife the woman clenched in her hands.

 

“Daniel.” She spoke. It came as no surprise she knew who he was. The moment their eyes met, a familiar ocean blue though it was lacking the specks of yellow, Dan knew it was Phil’s mother. His heart sank, eyes frantically falling to his sister who looked just as terrified as he was on the inside. The pleading in her gaze was painful. There was nothing he could do right now. He felt like the worst older brother in the history of the world. Phil’s mother had been talking, but Dan hadn’t been listening. She was staring at him now, waiting for some kind of answer. All he could mumble out was a weak ‘ _Let her go_ ’ in regards to Julie.

 

The man across the room laughed, short and loud. It made Dan jump and Julie attempt to flinch away from him.

 

“You know we aren’t going to do that.” Phil’s mother stated bluntly. Stepping away from Dan, she kicked a jar to the side sending the herbs inside it onto the floor. The knife between her fingers seemed more deadly now. It was a knife afterall, but the closer she drew to where Julie stood the more Dan struggled to keep his panic in.

 

And then it was too late. The blade was suddenly lodged in his sister’s chest, a pained gasp leaving her lips as the blood spilled around the metal. Dan felt his mouth fall open, his hand reaching out a second too late. His steps faltering before he could even do anything. Julie crumpled to the floor, her eyes wide and focused on where Dan stood. There was a steady flow of tears spilling from her eyes, pooling on the floor beneath her and mixing into the blood that had already fallen.

 

“It would have been worse for both of you if Phil hadn’t have messed everything up, honestly. I suppose you could thank him for that if you were ever going to see him again.”

 

The words filtered in Dan’s ear and went right out the other. The room was spinning. The herbs scattered across the floor sent his mind back to years ago, where his bedroom had looked exactly the same. He hadn’t been able to save his mother that day and now he wasn’t going to be able to save his sister. He couldn’t save anyone. All of the work he’d put into learning this over the years and he was incapable of saving his own family.

 

His body was buzzing with energy, pent up emotions he’d stifled away. His mind was a mess of past memories and his current situation, the two blurring together in a way that felt so realistic that Dan staggered back – gripping the shelf for some kind of support. Tearing his gaze away from Julie, he narrowed his eyes towards Phil’s mother. She was watching him with a raised brow, following the rise and fall of his chest as his breathing radically sped up the longer the situation dragged on.  She seemed amused, completely unbothered by his deteriorating mental state – which didn’t surprise him in the slightest.

 

“You bitch.” He somehow stammered out, his anxiety turning to anger. In a sudden rush of adrenaline, Dan felt himself lunging towards her only to collide with the man who had accompanied her. Physical fighting was never Dan’s strong suit. The man easily held him back, pinning him against the window of his shop so quickly that Dan barely realized it was happening until his face collided with the curtains.

 

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” She started and Dan wanted to scoff at how cliché a line that was. “Your sisters dying and you’re going to be next, if you don’t struggle it won’t hurt as badly.”

 

“I – “ Dan started, attempting to turn his head to look towards his sister. The man had a death grip on him, however, and his face was turned the other way. “Fuck you.”

 

What did he have to lose now? There was no point in being civil. The man’s grip tightening, yanking Dan away from the window and hurdling him towards the floor.   


“Shut up, witch. You don’t have the right to speak to her, let alone like that.” The man practically spit, his fingers clenching around the front of Dan’s shirt and dragging him to his feet. He felt like he should care, but he couldn’t. He simply looked the man dead in the eyes and said the same thing to him.

 

“Fuck you too.”

 

It took less than a second for the man’s fist to collide with Dan’s face, his body staggering backwards into the wall with a thud. Phil’s mother had edged her way over, her fingers wrapping gently around the man’s bicep and pulling his arm away from Dan’s face.

 

“We don’t have time to waste,” She said, frowning as she handed the knife over. It was clean, the light reflecting off the hilt and blade. Dan took a glance towards Julie, his vision was blurry but he could definitely tell she was still moving. It was debatable over whether that was good or bad at this point. The man held the knife now, lips curling into a smirk that should have made Dan’s skin crawl. It didn’t. He was just ready for this to be over. He let his eyes fall shut and waited.

 

But nothing happened.

 

There was a beat of silence before a loud crash and when Dan opened his eyes, Phil was standing there. A chair from across the room was in his hands and the man was on the floor, knife nowhere in sight. Dan had never seen Phil look so furious. He practically had flames burning behind his eyes, tossing the chair to the side with such force that it sent a shelf to the ground. He watched as Phil’s gaze moved between Julie, Dan, and his mother, before finally settling on his mum with a glare that made Dan want to flinch away.

 

“Get out.”

 

She opened her mouth, the words on the tip of her tongue. But, Phil was having none of it.

 

“Get _out.”_

 

Dan had been so focused on Phil that he didn’t even notice the man had shifted on the floor. He didn’t notice that his hand somehow had re-wrapped itself around the blade and he definitely didn’t notice that he was now aiming straight for Dan’s chest. The blade made contact and Dan jerked away. It caught him so off guard that the pain almost didn’t register. But slowly it did. He could feel himself stepping back, hands flinging up to his skin frantically only to pull away covered in blood. From across the room, Phil’s eyes widened just as Dan’s had done earlier, the same look of astonished shock spreading across his face. But beneath the shock was anger, anger that was manifesting itself into literal flames that were now spilling across the floor of Dan’s shop.

 

“Phil,” Dan uttered, sliding to the floor. He had his palm pressed against where the knife landed, blood dripping between his fingers. “Calm down. Your emotions effect your magic… You – “

 

“Your magic!?” His mother practically screeched. Even through his blurring vision and the flames that were climbing the walls, Dan could see the anger on her face. It almost rivaled Phil’s from earlier. _Almost. “_ You are one of them now?! I won’t have my own son – “

 

The flames crackled, sending shelves to the ground and the smell of herbs to the air. It was almost pretty. Or maybe Dan was just losing it. The heat of the flames beat against his skin and he forced himself to his feet. He was lucky he had jerked away or the knife would have hit him in the chest instead of the shoulder. Both Phil’s mum and the man seemed to realize that staying there was endangering their own life and they rushed out the door, slamming it shut behind them.

 

“We have to get out of here. Now.” Phil said, rushing to Dan’s side.

 

Dan shook his head. His hand was still pressed over his shoulder, wincing with every movement.

 

“Get Julie out of here. Now.”

 

“But – “

 

“No, Phil. You wanted some way to make this up to me? _Get her out._ I'll manage _._ ”

 

Phil hesitated, his hand lingering on Dan’s arm before he turned and ran across the room. In a way, Phil’s magic had saved his ass while potentially being what killed him, as well. Dan loved irony, but right now, he wasn’t in the mood. Dan watched as Phil scooped Julie off the floor, carrying her bridal style out the door. He followed, tripping over jars and burned piles of wood that had fallen from the walls, until he was finally in the street with them.

 

“Let’s go." He slurred, vision blurring. There was no one else in the street, but Dan didn't want to risk it. He wasn't even sure how much longer he was going to be able to stay upright and not pass out. Phil looked worried, his grip was tight around Julie who, much to Dan's surprise, seemed relatively coherent despite everything. He allowed himself a quick sigh of relief before they bolted to Phil's car that was parked across the road, climbing in the back seat and heading straight out of town.


	16. Chapter 16

Sometimes Phil forgot how intelligent Dan really was. It wasn’t like it wasn’t obvious. Everything he did was well thought out and planned, the lengths he went to when teaching Phil about the herbs in his shop was in so much detail that it was almost _too much._ The way Dan’s mind worked was so much different than Phil’s. It was organized and logical, detailed. And that definitely wasn’t a bad thing considering the situation.

 

Phil had never felt more useless as he glanced in the rearview mirror. Dan had lain Julie down across the back seat, her head in his lap and the ripped off bottom of his shirt pressed against her chest _. ‘Stopping the bleeding’_ he’d said, when he caught Phil’s gaze.

 

All Phil could think was ‘ _well what about yours?’_

 

Obviously Dan hadn’t gotten injured anywhere vital, unlike his sister, but it was still making Phil nervous to see the crimson stain growing larger on his shirt the longer they drove. For the first time since they’d met, Dan was paler than Phil. If he hadn’t known him so well, the abnormality of his actions would have slipped past his attention. But, Dan’s constant swaying and irregular blinking was definitely not normal. He seemed almost in a daze, ready to pass out at any second but only not due to sheer willpower alone. It amazed Phil, honestly, how he was managing to deal with his sister and give him directions to where ever they were going at the same time – all while he looked like he could keel over at any second.

Phil prayed to whatever higher power was listening that he wouldn’t; That he could at least make it to wherever Dan was directing them before anything happened.

 

“Phil? You’re getting lost in your head. Focus.”

 

Glancing at the mirror again, Phil was met with a look of complete concern. Dan’s eyes were bloodshot, tired. But even behind the trauma, Phil could see the worry on his face. His lip was caught between his teeth, chewing it subconsciously. If he hadn’t been driving, Phil would have made him stop before he bit too far into the skin and caused it to bleed.

 

“M’sorry. Just… “

 

“Yeah, I know. I – “ Dan winced, leaning back against the window and clenching his eyes shut. “ – it’s fine.”

 

* * *

 

 

It felt like they had been driving forever by the time Dan told him to stop. Phil felt his whole body relax as the car shuddered to a stop outside of a flower shop Phil had driven past many times before. Before he could even express his confusion, Dan was already talking with a slur in his words that made Phil’s heart fill with dread. Dan had started listing off things he wanted Phil to get from inside.

_‘Of course flower shops sell herbs, Phil. Where do you think I started my garden from?’_

 

Next thing Phil knew he was inside the shop, seemingly moving on autopilot and grabbing everything as fast as possible. He didn’t want his parents to catch up to them – and he was sure they were trying. Especially since his outburst of magic back in Dan’s shop. He hadn’t expected it, if he was being honest. His magic was learned and nowhere near the skill level of Dan. How was he supposed to know magic could be directly influence by his emotions like that?

 

Maybe it was his ardent desire to protect Dan. It had been brewing for months. Everytime he lay eyes on him, it only deepened. Seeing the bruise blossoming over Dan’s face and the hilt of the knife embedded in his skin had just sent Phil over the edge. It was like he had tunnel vision, focusing on nothing but the anger he felt towards his family and the man who _dared_ to hurt Dan.

 

If that wasn’t bad enough, he’d literally decked his father straight in the face before running out the front door of his coffeeshop. They were well past annoyed now. They were infuriated and the thought was unnerving, to say the least.

 

Shaking the thoughts out of his head – a conversation for another time – Phil left the shop, bags in hand, and got back in the car.

 

* * *

* * *

 

 

It had only been a few weeks since the fire and what they were referring to as _the incident_. Phil could still see Dan pressing the herbs to Julie in the back seat of the car, his desperation seeping into the magic he was using, filtering into the air. Phil had just sat in the front seat quietly, eyes occasionally flickering to the back seat to watch.

 

He never mentioned the tears he saw streaming down Dan’s face when the wound on Julie’s chest started to heal over, when he breathing evened out and her eyes closed not to death, but to a sleep that seemed to comfort her.

 

They’d caught each other’s gaze in the mirror, sharing a look between the two that said more than words ever could.

 

_‘I’m sorry.’ ‘It’s okay.’_

_‘I love you.’_

_‘I’m in love with you.’_

_‘We’ll be fine.’_

_‘I promise.’_

 

Now they were renting a little cabin in the woods. Just the three of them, in the middle of nowhere, paying cash to some man named Charles who seemed to be about 80 years old and have no idea what was going on half the time. Dan speculated he was on drugs. Julie just blamed it on his age. Phil was more inclined to believe it was luck. Having a man with a shoddy memory was good if someone were to turn up looking for them. Besides, the cabin was a good place to hide, to recover. Temporary, but it was fine. They were fine.

***

Dan was sitting by the window, his back to Phil and eyes trained on the trees surrounding them. Phil watched him from across the room. He seemed so focused, honed in on whatever he was thinking about. Phil didn’t want to interrupt him, but he did want to be near him. Shifting the pillows that sat next to Dan, he slid onto the couch and rest his hand on top of Dan’s thigh.

 

“Hi.” Dan uttered softly, not looking away from the window. Phil wondered if he was paranoid. He knew he was.

 

“Hey.”

 

They sat in a comfortable silence. Phil tracing patterns on top of Dan’s jeans only to get an occasional sigh out of his lips. Out of nowhere, Dan jumped to his feet, practically smashing his face into the window to look outside.

 

“What?! What’s wrong?” Following suit, Phil hauled himself to a standing position, fully prepared to get Julie and run out the door.

 

“The cat!” Dan said, his tone full of awed confusion. “ _Your_ cat.”

 

Phil frowned. Susan had been a touchy subject since they’d left. Phil hadn’t wanted to leave her behind, but there was no time. There was no telling what had happened to her.

 

“Yeah, I know, Dan. We’ve already talked about her.”

 

He couldn’t stop the frown from forming on his face, eyes dropping to the tops of his Converse. Dan scrambled from the window and towards the front door, pushing past Phil gently but enough to make him stumble.

 

“No, you idiot. Your stupid cat is outside.”

 

“What?”

 

Sure enough, a familiar ball of black fur was perched on the railing surrounding the cabin’s porch. Phil wouldn’t admit it but he definitely cried.

 

* * *

 

The time spent at the cabin was surprisingly pleasant. Most nights ended with Dan curled in his arms, dozing off against his chest. Maybe it was the fact that Dan nearly died, but they seemed to be putting the past in the past and focusing forward. There was no talk of the sleeping potion aside from Dan chastising him one sole time for his stupidity. The only discussion of the lies were done in quiet ‘I’m sorry’s’ and quick forgiveness, followed by an ‘I understand.’ Julie had slowly but surely warmed up to him and Phil felt like he had a real sister (Dan would never admit how pleased he was over this).

 

Julie had long gone to bed, leaving Dan and Phil sitting on the couch in the living room. They’d drawn the curtains – Dan didn’t like the trees and Phil was inclined to agree they were creepy – and were trying to figure out a plan of what to do next.

 

Susan was sat on top of the bookshelf, eyes falling to where Dan and Phil were sitting. She looked more concerned than a cat ought to be.

 

Dan had his head buried in his hands, fingers tousling the curls he’d worked so hard to keep neat that morning.

 

“Phil, we can’t stay here forever. I have no idea what to do.”

 

Phil tipped Dan’s head up, putting a finger below his chin and forcing him to look him in the eye. Kissing him gently, he felt Dan relax into his touch.

 

“I promised you we’d be fine, okay? We’ll figure something out.”

 

Dan sighed, “We need to figure something out now.”

 

“Tomorrow. Let’s have tonight for us.”

 

Cupping Dan’s face, Phil couldn’t fight the smile off his lips. Despite the whole situation falling to complete and total shit, somehow he still managed to end up with Dan. No one had died, they were together, and for the most part, they were happy.

 

He peppered kisses across Dan’s face, ignoring the faux-whines of complaint leaving his lips. He could feel the blush spreading across Dan’s face, covering his skin with a pretty pink that Phil wished would stay there forever.

 

“Okay,” Dan sighed, this time in contentment, “Tonight’s for us.”


	17. Chapter 17

Life was weird.

 

Dan supposed it always had been. Not everyone was born with magic in their veins and a group of people out to kill them from their birth. And even if they did, most of those people wouldn’t end up falling in love with one of the people who opposed them.

 

But, Dan wasn’t everyone.

He never had been and never would be.

 

From the moment his hands had landed on his first potion bottle to the moment his fingers threaded through Phil’s years later, Dan knew normality was never in his blood.

 

***

 

They had run away, Julie and Susan in tow, to a town days away. They had been exhausted and nearly ready to kill each other – ironically – by the time the car pulled down the dirt path.

****

**_Welcome to Redwater  
Population: 998_ **

(A few weeks later, someone would paint over the sign, changing the 998 to 1,001)

 

Redwater was small. Easy to blend into the crowd, but not big enough to get lost completely. There had been a lot of arguments over staying there. Phil vouching they needed to go somewhere bigger where they could blend in, Dan arguing that somewhere like that would be the obvious place to start if someone were to look for them. Redwater was off the map. There wasn’t even a sign on the highway pointing in its’ direction. If it hadn’t been for Phil’s poor directional skills, they never would have found it in the first place.

 

Julie had to listen to them argue over it all night, rolling her eyes in the corner and _obviously_ butting in to take Dan’s side whenever she felt like it. But after a week of debate and getting a feel for the town, Redwater felt like home and Phil didn’t have it in his heart to leave. Nor did Dan and Julie.

 

So they stayed.

 

Dan and Phil found a flat fairly quickly, nestled in the middle of the town, right above a small cafe. It wasn’t luxurious by any means, but it was big enough for three. Julie had adamantly declined the extra bedroom.

 

_‘I’ve spent enough time around both of you and I don’t want to hear you have sex anymore.’_

(Dan was sure his face had never been redder.)

 

 

From there, they started from scratch. After toying with the idea of using fake names, all three decided it was for the best. They didn’t want to leave any room for error, especially after growing fond of the small town. To the people of Redwater, they were nothing more than a small family traveling around and that was exactly how it was going to stay.

 

* * *

 

“Dan?”

 

Even from up the stairs, Phil’s voice echoed and Dan found himself padding down the hall like a dog who had just been called. God, he was so whipped it was almost embarrassing. Susan was perched on the bottom step, stretching out just as Dan was moving to stand there causing him to stumble over her and onto the café floor. Phil had been quick to laugh, the sound bouncing off the walls and erasing any form of annoyance that Dan had been feeling.

 

“She does that on purpose.” He grumbled, brushing himself off as he stood to his feet. Phil only rolled his eyes, scooping the mass of black fur into his arms and doting her with an annoying amount of baby talk.

 

“She does not. You just never pay attention.”

 

Susan slipped out of Phil’s arms and onto one of the barstools pushed to the counter.

 

The café had come with the flat. They weren’t expected to open it unless they really wanted to.

_‘Use it as a foyer, for all I care. But Redwater hasn’t had a decent café in years.’_

 

As soon as the words came out of the woman’s mouth and the keys were placed into Phil’s hand, Dan knew what was coming. It was impossible to say no when Phil’s eyes lit up at the mere thought of owning another coffeeshop – considering he never actually got to open his last one.

 

“You need to help me pick paint.”

 

Dangling a few paint cards in front of Dan’s eyes, Phil grinned eagerly. Dan found himself more enraptured by the look on his face than the shades of blues and greys on the paper in front of him. It was only obvious that he moved to kiss him.

 

Phil abruptly turned his head, causing Dan’s lips to land on his cheek. “Nope, no distractions. Pick a paint color.”

 

They had spent the rest of the afternoon looking over paint colors and wall décor, trying to find a suitable aesthetic for both of their taste.

 

* * *

 

 

With a snap of Phil’s fingers, the candles on their dining room table flickered to life. The wax was slow to melt, dripping down the sides and pooling on the table below. Phil watched the flames, his head tipping to the side with a sigh.

 

He wished it was this easy everywhere. Behind closed doors, he was free to do as he pleased. It had been months since the fire at Dan’s shop, leaving the building to fall to ash as they fled, and Phil had done everything within his power to learn how to do more. How to do it _better._

 

Dan, on the otherhand, hadn’t even mentioned magic since they left. He turned a blind eye whenever Phil did anything, completely avoiding the topic if it were brought up. Both Phil and Julie were concerned over this. It was understandable, after everything that happened, but Dan had been happy making potions. Phil remembered how his eyes lit up when he talked about it, the passion that was brewing throughout his mind for it was so strong it had made Phil want to learn magic more than he already had at that point.

 

But, now, there was nothing.

 

Dan was happy, sure. That was obvious. He loved the café they had finally opened, spending most of his time there. He loved to come home to Phil and curl up into his arms after a long day. There was rarely a day he didn’t come home with a blinding smile on his face, dimples caving into his cheeks, as he started rambling to Phil about whatever had gone on during his day. He had slot right into the town perfectly.

 

Phil wasn’t blind though. There was a weird similarity to making coffee drinks and making potions, and maybe – he thought – that was why Dan seemed so obsessed with the café at the foot of their stairs. Perhaps it was nostalgic; The feeling of combining things together to make something else. And this time, there were no repercussions except for a burn here and there from the coffee machine. Tonight he was going to talk to him about it.

 

The candles were still lit when Dan came in the door. A stain of coffee ran down the front of his grey shirt, grounds smeared across his cheek.  

 

“Candles?” He asked, smile wavering only for a second, “What’s the occasion?”

 

“No occasion. I just wanted to make you dinner.”

 

The falter in Dan’s smile immediately vanished, replaced by the most fond expression Phil thought he had ever received from Dan in his life. With a quick ‘I love you’, Dan bounded to their room to change clothes and Phil decided that, maybe, tonight wasn’t the best night to bring up magic again.

 

* * *

 

 

Julie was bringing someone over for dinner.

 

And by the tone in her voice, Dan realized it was a special someone. His big brother instincts kicked into overdrive, sending him pacing around the flat ready to lecture whoever this person was about treating his sister right.

 

The whole thing had only served to amuse Phil. He watched Dan muttering to himself as he stirred the sauce in the pan, shaking his head, but making no attempt to stop him. Sometimes, he needed to get it out of his system himself.

 

The knock on the door seemed to jerk Dan straight out of his head and Phil saw all his resolve fade when the door swung open and a girl a head shorter than his sister was standing next to Julie. Baby pink hair toppled down to her shoulders, covering the front of her jumper that she seemed to be trying to shrink into.

 

Jasmine quickly became part of their little family, too.

 

* * *

 

 

Phil was pleasantly surprised when he came home one day to find Dan rustling about to kitchen, hovered over the small herb garden he’d conveniently left on the table the night before. There had been a small sliver of hope that Dan would see it when he woke up and maybe it would rekindle some desire for the magic he seemed to be trying to ignore.

 

And, if that didn’t work, at least they’d have fresh herbs.

 

But, Dan seemed rather immersed. He had dropped down to eye level with the small pots, smoothing the top of the soil over with his finger, before Phil’s steps had startled him. A faint smile crept onto his face as he rose.

 

“Thank you.”

 

In lieu of a response, Phil had just kissed him.

 

They’d ended up spending a lot more time in the bedroom that night than they had planned.

 

* * *

 

 

“Have you thought about making potions again?”

 

Phil hadn’t meant to corner him, but the opportunity arose and his mouth seemed to start moving before he could stop it. Dan’s face paled and Phil felt the wave of guilt crashing over him almost immediately.

 

“Dan, I’m – “

 

“It’s okay. I just, I want to… But…”

 

Phil let the silence linger, hoping that Dan would elaborate. But he didn’t. He just shook his head with a sigh and left the room, leaving Phil standing in the middle of the carpet feeling like the worst person in the world.

 

* * *

 

 

He knew he couldn’t avoid magic forever.

 

Phil and Julie had no issue playing around with it, away from the public eye. They seemed more keen on doing it now than they were before the whole ordeal happened. Dan found himself envying them. Phil was right, as he usually was, about Dan missing magic. It was something he’d been doing since he was a child. When he made the conscious decision to stop, it was like part of his personality was gone along with it. But he’d adapted. He’d fell into the routine of day to day life perfectly fine and he was happy. A bit empty, but happy.

 

Julie came bursting through their front door, frantically talking so fast that Dan couldn’t even understand what she was saying. It was raising all the red flags in his mind, alarms bells silently ringing. Was this it? Were they going to have to leave _again_?

 

All his panic was for nothing, however, when Julie finally spoke a sentence clear enough for him to understand.

 

“Jasmine’s sick, Dan! And she looks so pitiful! Can you just _please_ make her that one thing you used to make me when I was little and got a cold?”

 

Dan would have laughed if he wasn’t so on edge, “You want me to… Because she’s sick?”

 

“I’ll never ask you for anything ever again.”

 

Dan knew that was a lie. But, he found himself nodding. Every step he took felt robotic and he was silently thankful that Phil had been tending to their little herb garden in the kitchen. He wouldn’t have had the energy to try and fix it now.

 

A few hours later, a vial of baby blue liquid sat on the table in front of him and he felt more relaxed than he had in ages.

 

* * *

 

 

Dan watched Susan bat around a small ball of paper she had pulled out of the trash, darting around the room frantically as if the paper was going to disappear at any moment. Phil was cooking, a dangerous idea Dan had teased, refusing to let Dan anywhere near the kitchen.

 

Whether he meant to or not, Phil was giving Dan ample time to reflect on the past. It had been almost a year since they’d left and so far, nothing had happened here. There had been no one looking for them, no one even suspecting a thing. They had a plan, just in case. All four of them – Jasmine included, now that she knew – had sat down and figured out exactly what to do in case something were to go down. Dan didn’t know if they did it to ease his nerves or their own, but he appreciated it none the less.

 

He still would wake up some nights, drenched in sweat and breathes uneven, from the memories that had manifested themselves into his dreams. But Phil was always there. That was more than Dan could ask for.

 

Phil had been nothing but a tornado through his life, ripping everything from the ground and throwing it haphazardly around. It was strange, but looking back, Dan knew that’s exactly what he needed. Maybe not exactly in the way it had happened. A little less emotional trauma and a lot more slow steps out of his comfort zone would have been nice. But that’s not how it had happened and somehow? That was okay.

 

  

Phil popped into the living room, a stain already streaked across the front of his shirt and jeans. He looked at Dan sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders.

“Oops?”

 

Dan just laughed, rolling his eyes fondly.

“Do we need to order something?”

 

“Um, that might be for the best.” The couch dipped as Phil sat down, tipping his head as he looked over towards him. “You okay?”

 

Dan nodded, leaning into Phil's touch,

 

"Yeah, I am."

 

* * *

 

 

It was simple.

 

Dan liked order.

 

He liked the coffee cups in the café to be lined a certain way, the muffins on display to be turned the right way. He liked Susan to stay on her side of the room and not drag the couch pillows around the living room. He liked Phil’s socks to be in the drawers and the cabinets of the kitchen to be shut.

 

And sometimes, everything was in order.

 

Some days he could wake up and the café and the flat would be exactly how he wanted them to be. Other days, he’d wake up to a kitchen full of open cabinets and a couch pillow would be in the middle of the hallway.

 

And that was okay.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ty to everyone who's read this all the way through, the kudos, and the comments. it definitely took a lot of deviations from how I had planned the story, but I like it none the less, and I hope you do too. 
> 
> ty ly bb
> 
> heyitskxt.tumblr.com


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